Newsday
More than 90 percent of the nation’s county governments surveyed say they are not prepared to handle biological or chemical attacks, citing lack of trained personnel and financial resources as the chief sources of their vulnerability to terrorism.
According to a National Association of Counties survey, fewer than 10 percent of the nation’s county jurisdictions — none of them among the most heavily populated — say they consider themselves prepared for terrorist attacks. The survey polled 394 of the nation’s 3,066 counties.
Though the majority of U.S. county governments surveyed say they have taken steps to improve their capacities to respond to terrorism, including mapping out emergency response plans, only 9 percent claim to have adequate public health capabilities to deal with biological or chemical agents.
"The state of public health systems prior to Sept. 11 was that of severe deterioration," association president Javier Gonzales said in an interview. Since that date, Gonzales said, "There’s a lot of concern that our public health agencies are not anywhere near the level they need to be to protect our populations."
The survey showed that a third of the nation’s local health departments do not have legal authority to impose quarantines in the event of a terrorist attack with a contagious agent such as smallpox. Another third may have the legal clout, but lack any infrastructure for maintaining a quarantine. That means, the association says, that most of the U.S. population’s governments would be unable to slow the spread of a lethal epidemic without either breaking local laws or marshaling forces not currently in place.
The association’s members say they need money — $3 billion a year for the next five years at a minimum," Gonzales said. And they need training to prepare first responders at all levels of government, he said.
In a speech last week to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, President Bush said he wants to double the 2002 budget for homeland security, providing more resources to the local level. He did not, however, single out public health capacity.
This week, the Department of Health and Human Services will disburse $240 million to some 240 cities and counties to finance improvements in laboratory capacity, drug stockpiles, hospital preparedness and emergency planning. Overall, next year’s budget for the agency allows for $1 billion in local bioterrorism preparedness funds.
That simply isn’t enough, Gonzales insists. Much of that money will go to the state level, where traditionally vast percentages of federal health dollars never reach local jurisdictions, Gonzales said.
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