Flu pandemic drill unrealistic?

Hello all.In my municipality they had their first flu pandemic drill.
According to the paper all went well.In fact it went so well,they feel that they are more than prepared to handle the situation.The whole drill went smoothly,no panic,no fighting,no butting,very orderly,etc.Several police and fire depts participated-the flu shots were real and given to real citizens(this was done to kill two birds with one stone)to give the shot to those who wanted it and hold "the drill".Maybe I'm off but it dosen't prove that "the county is prepared" if those that were going to get them anyway only had to go to a new location and wait in line(only 3,000+) people instead of (the 600,000+ who actually live here)for 25-45 minutes.The county officials are all patting themselves on the back(in the paper)as to how well it went because all went smoothly.I don't see how having more than enough vaccine for only 2% of the actual population in something that wasn't a drill or real life scenario by any means is a success.I think that something akin to what happened with the playstation 3 would be more likely-people fighting to get what is in limited supply,panic,etc. All I can say is "duck and cover" seems to be the official mentailty,maybe I'm wrong.

To vacinate you first need a proper vacin, it takes month to develop and produce a vacin. If a manufacture doesn't predict the up coming kind of flu properly, the vacins will be useless.

When you have a drill, it's not handy to have normal people, going there to do a normal thing (getting there flu shots), because it will lack any realistic behavior. There are volenteer clubs, that supply people at drills which are instructed to behave in a certain fashion.

Secondly released press has always been more positive than the people envolved think. I have been volenteers for many drills and generally there where many many "learning points", even though the press where positive about it.

PC2K thanks for the response.You hit it right on the head.I understand that the press release would be more positive than not but as we in this county(east coast)are literally wedged between two major metro areas and has two major highways going thru(including an interstate that runs up-down the coast)this seemed all to much like a publicity stunt than a real attempt at being prepared.In the end,I hoped that the officials learned something worthwhile.

agenda's are often unfortunatly often influanced by policians. Preparing for an event, really doesn't get people voted, visible stuff do.

I took part in our local flu drill back in April. At least for us, the point wasn't to be completely prepared, but to be better prepared. All of the major and many of the minor medical facilities in the county took part, including for the first time some from surrounding counties. They got to make a dry run of their pandemic disaster plans. Their primary challenge was locating and opening a triage center outside of their facility to keep infectious patients outside and away from critical care patients. Some facilities got a wakeup call that they couldn't just pop up some tents outside and ignore the weather. One of the best took over a nearby conference center where they have an agreement in place and were able to triage in relative comfort.

In the end, the message I took away was to just hope it never happens. If it did, it's unrealistic to think anyone but the most die-hard survivalist can quarantine themselves at home for the duration.

After the drill, I only really added a few things to my kits. More gloves, safety glasses, and N95 or better masks. A stockpile of isopropyl and gelled hand sanitizer. Some extra electrolyte replacements especially for the kids. Immodium AD and some general flu symptom medications.

Any time you have a drill or practice and nothing goes wrong, you missed something.

thats the problem when you have the press and other importent people during a drill. They don't want to look like a fool infront of them, but making mistakes is really the learning part. If you can do everything flawless, you didn't had to pratice it at all.

the above posts echo my feelings.somehow,I don't feel as though taxpayer money was well spent on this "drill" and think in the long run it probably has done more harm than good.I see alot of "we learned a lot from this disaster and we'll make changes to ensure it dosn't happen again" or "the effected area is approx the size of the UK which made it more difficult to handle"(ala katrina,rita,wilma) after something actually does happen. So what is the largest geographical area/population density that can be effectively handled in a disaster and/or epidemic situation.

If you want a real learning experience, have the real thing instead of a drill. Talk about the S hitting the fan....

My sister works for the local hospital, and they have annual disaster drills. I don't think they let the press or local officials anywhere nearby, because they always turn out to be disasters in themselves. Think "National Lampoon Hospital Disaster Drill".

Sue