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Smallpox Plan Grants Sweeping Power
by Michael Lasalandra
Public health officials want to shut down roads and airports, herd peopleinto sports stadiums and, if needed, quarantine entire cities in the eventof a smallpox attack, according to a plan being forwarded to all 50governors this week.
The plan, drafted at the request of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control,could give states sweeping new powers.
"In tough times you have to make tough decisions," said Paul Jacobsen,assistant commissioner for the state Department of Public Health, who saidhe received a copy of the 50-page plan last week.
"There are times when you may have to evacuate, control facilities androads (and) the distribution of health supplies, and force people to submitto examinations or be quarantined," he said.
"If the alternative is to allow the spread of infectious diseases, it's ano-brainer," he said.
The proposed "model state emergency health powers act" would have to beenacted by each state legislature. But federal health officials say it isneeded to keep smallpox or other infectious agents from spreading.
Jacobsen said the model plan was drawn up with input from the governors,state legislatures, health agencies and others.
One provision of the plan would give health authorities control of privateproperty for quarantine purposes, although Jacobsen said that inMassachusetts the preference would be to use state armories as much aspossible. However, he noted such buildings as the Fleet Center could be used.
The model also calls for the rationing of drugs and other medical suppliesby public health authorities, if necessary.
Under the proposed model, it would take only a declaration of a publichealth emergency by the governor to set the law's provisions in motion.
But the model also takes note of potential civil rights problemsassociated with the law, saying: ``The Act recognizes that a state's abilityto respond to a public health emergency must respect the dignity and rightsof persons.'' Sen. Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge), co-chairman of theLegislature's health care committee, has filed a bill that would incorporatemany provisions of the model law. "We're not as prepared as we ought to be",he said.
The bill would grant the state authority "to use and appropriate propertyas necessary for the care, treatment and housing of patients, and for thedestruction of contaminated materials".
It calls for providing training, setting certification standards foradministration of medicines, and establishing civil immunity for paramedics,EMS personnel and emergency health workers.
Moore's bill would examine the feasibility of developing a statewidepharmacy communications network to track prescription drug sales and callsfor development of a program to certify nurses, including retired orinactive nurses, to be called into action in case of emergency. The billwould also look at the state's hospital capacity and preparedness of publichealth facilities.
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