So how well prepared is America to detect and respond to a mass-casualty disaster? It’s a big question health experts and epidemiologists are addressing.
In April this year, the National Biosurveillance Advisory Subcommittee released a report on America’s ability to detect and respond to modern health threats, which include bioterrorism, radiation, infectious diseases, and intoxication of pets. The report cited insufficient staffing, complexity and overlap among stakeholders, and inconsistent biosurveillance data-collecting methods and metrics.
“There is no question we’re not prepared,” says [director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health Dr. W. Ian] Lipkin, who co-chaired the subcommittee. “Were we to have an outbreak, let alone a pandemic, we would not be able to handle it and that’s just the way it is..."
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