Pandemic Influenza Operations Plans for Communications

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Pandemic Influenza Operations Plans for
Communications
PAHO Outbreak and Crisis Communications
Training William H. Hall Director, Press
Office July 20, 2006
U.S. Department of Health Human Services
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(No Transcript)
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The Point of Planning

• "Plans are worthless, but planning is
  everything." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, United
  States President, 1953-1961
• Never could have planned for September 11,
  anthrax, SARS, etc.
• What we learned from past events has helped us
  prepare for future events.
• 9/11 ? Anthrax ? SARS ? Katrina ? Pandemic Flu?

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Case Study Anthrax, October 2001

• Just three weeks after September 11 attacks
• Country on heightened alert
• Within days, the media and the government raise
  concerns about bioterrorism

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Case Study Anthrax

• October 1, 2001 Photographer Robert L. Stevens
  of Palm Beach, Florida returns home from a
  vacation in North Carolina and began feeling
  sick.
• October 2, 2001 Stevens is delirious with fever
  and his wife admits him to a Palm Beach hospital.
  Symptoms were suggestive of inhalational
  anthrax, an extremely rare form of the disease.
  Samples are sent to the Florida Department of
  Health and the CDC in Atlanta for testing.

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Case Study Anthrax

• October 4, 2001 The Florida Dept. of Health
  announces confirmation that Stevens is diagnosed
  with inhalational anthrax.
• October 4, 2001 At a White House press
  conference a few hours later, the United States
  health secretary states
• It is an isolated case and it is not
  contagious. There is no terrorism. Sporadic
  cases of anthrax do occur in the United States.

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Case Study Anthrax

• October 12, 2001 A case of anthrax is reported
  in New York City. Erin O'Connor, an NBC Nightly
  News employee, 38, an assistant to NBC television
  anchor Tom Brokaw is reported to have cutaneous
  anthrax from exposure to a white powder that fell
  from an envelope she opened that was addressed to
  Mr. Brokaw.
• The third floor of NBC Headquarters at 30
  Rockefeller Center in New York City, where the
  employee works, is sealed by authorities. The FBI
  opens a criminal investigation.

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Case Study Anthrax

• Little understanding of anthrax, especially
  inhalational.
• Naturally occurring, but rare and usually among
  certain types of animal handlers.
• Technical information changed by the day, by the
  hour.
• Media was primed following September 11.
• Media not only was covering, but was a target.
• Situational information scattered, delayed and
  difficult to obtain
• Law enforcement vs. public health

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Case Study Anthrax

• in their initial handling of the anthrax
  crisis, government leaders did almost everything
  wrong, according to psychologists and other
  researchers. Health and law enforcement
  authorities made confident statements that later
  proved false, tried simultaneously to inform and
  reasssure, and limited the flow of information to
  the public. Agencies issued conflicting
  statements. Officials speculated about what had
  happened or what might happen. And they
  simultaneously warned Americans about vague
  dangers while urging them to go about their
  lives.
• -- New York Times, October 23, 2001

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Communications Lessons Learned

• Internal Communications maintain regular daily
  contact with key press officers get
  communications at the table
• External Communications maintain regular daily
  contact with key press officers in other federal
  ministries state, provincial, district and local
  governments
• Subject Matter Experts maintain list of
  government experts media train those that are
  key maintain list of outside experts who will
  be supportive

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Communications Lessons Learned

• Basic health and science information prepare
  public materials on all hazards ready in
  advance doesnt change fills immediate void
  reduces media error
• Accommodate media needs regular media
  briefings designate point(s) of contact for
  proper triage, message consistency senior press
  officer for TV
• Accommodate general public needs use the web
  creatively and vigorously, and cross-fertilize
  phone questions and web information

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Communications Lessons Learned

• Accuracy, credibility, coherence as presiding
  decision-maker, the health minister should be the
  visible center of gravity available to media
  along with advisors and other senior ministry
  officials on the record
• Nimbleness need to be able to move fast on
  staffing and Web needs
• Visual images dont let todays media beat you
  with visuals
• Situational awareness youll lose quickly when
  flying blind put communications officers on the
  ground whenever possible.

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Media Lessons Learned

• Critical moments time between first report of
  an incident and the governments official
  response is critical. Media believe the
  government should be able to gather facts more
  quickly, or at least state what were gathering.
• Balancing speed and accuracy they want
  information expect government to have details
  in a very short time.
• Dispelling rumors they want government to
  immediately respond or dispel rumors false
  information.

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Media Lessons Learned

• Control of misinformation Media often spend as
  much time confirming information as pursuing new.
• Embedding media Media often express interest in
  gaining a better understanding of agency response
  functions and capabilities and often suggested
  embedding.

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Whats In a Plan?

• Background describe the project
• Goals your ultimate destination
• Objectives the roads youll take to reach your
  destination
• Strategies/tactics the vehicles youll use to
  travel your chosen roads
• Audiences list your target audiences (may need
  to divide into primary and secondary)

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Whats In a Plan?

• Messages list 3 to 5 key messages that serve as
  the foundation of the project.
• Materials list all materials that will be
  created and produced to support the project.
• Timeline describe when work will begin and end
  for all tactics highlight key milestones that
  can provide news hooks.
• Measurement and Evaluation a brief narrative
  describing how the success of the plan will be
  measured.

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Whats In a Plan?

• What a plan is something that can be
  realistically budgeted and executed simple tools
  (email, teleconference line, etc.) get the job
  done.
• What a plan is not something that is a wish
  list that includes expensive, yet
  difficult-to-use technologies (e.g. web portal
  software).
• In the heat of battle, simplicity and speed are
  critical

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Operational Plan

• Planning Assumptions how will an event unfold?
  (e.g., media will be the first to report first
  H5N1 bird, pandemic cluster)
• Control who has the lead?
• Coordination how will the messages be
  coordinated and distributed (conference line,
  Web, partner organizations, etc)?
• Communications audiences, spokespeople, message
  development/clearance, dissemination (what
  channels?), core functions (messaging, writing,
  media monitoring, Web, broadcast, Go Team)

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Operational Tools

• Key contact list of government communicators
• Key contact list of international communicators
  (countries sharing borders, PAHO, WHO, etc.)
• Updated media listkeep it current
• Access line for key media
• Standing conference call line for communicators
  to coordinate activities (within Ministry, within
  national government, among nations)

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Operational Tools

• Web site (public vs. internal Web portals)
• Media monitoring (newspaper, TV, Web, blogs)
• Prewritten remarks for senior leaders
• Prewritten public announcements
• 48-72 hour communications plans

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Pandemic InfluenzaCommunications Exercise
PAHO Outbreak and Crisis Communications
Training July 20, 2006
U.S. Department of Health Human Services
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Issue

• If the news tomorrow is that a pandemic virus has
  emerged, are we as communicators in a global
  community ready?

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Purpose

• Coordinate pandemic influenza health messages
  across ministries/departments within a national
  government.
• Coordinate communications activities within a
  Member States provincial, state, district and
  local communications staff.
• Promptly respond to rumors and inaccurate
  information to minimize concern, social
  disruption, and stigmatization.
• Coordinate international information exchange and
  communication strategies.

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Objectives

• Discuss awareness of immediate first actions and
  contact procedures.
• Assess potential communications issues arising
  from global media attention.
• Identify gaps or additional interagency
  coordination requirements.
• Promote advanced risk communications planning
  among public affairs offices.

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Move 1 Monday July 17, 2006

• The World Health Organization posts an update on
  its Web site announcing the 20th confirmed human
  case of avian influenza in China.
• The report notes that the case is most likely
  another rare instance of human to human
  transmission, as no other non-human source of
  infection can be identified.
• The Pandemic Alert Level remains at Level 3.

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Move 1 Tuesday July 18, 2006

• A 68-year-old Canadian citizen who lives in
  Ottawa and had recently traveled to Southeast
  Asia dies in a hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados
  while vacationing with his family.
• The man had been diagnosed with influenza, but he
  had had a history of other respiratory health
  problems. Hospital staff consider the death as
  nothing particularly unusual.
• The Canadian Embassy in Barbados is notified.
  There are no media reports of the death.

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Move 1 Thursday July 20, 2006

• At 945 a.m. Eastern Time the Hong Kong bureau of
  the Associated Press publishes a wire story
  reporting that an outbreak of an unusually severe
  respiratory illness has occurred near the city of
  Guangzhou.
• The AP report cites several local officials who
  confirm that at least 250 people have died within
  the past 10 days in the area.
• Within hours, the news of the reported outbreak
  becomes the lead story on major news networks and
  Web sites around the globe.

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Move 1 Discussion

• Which agency within your national government has
  the lead role in coordination and information at
  this time? 
• How will you coordinate with other parts of your
  national government? With provincial, district
  and local government officials? With PAHO? WHO?
• What gaps are evident in information production
  and, especially, in coordination?  What does your
  agencys communications office need to do to
  engage more closely with your agencys pandemic
  response activities?
• What are the basic risk communications messages
  to deliver for this move?  Who will/should
  deliver the message?
• What is your strategy for communicating with the
  public at this point, and/or a course of action
  to recommend?

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Move 2 Friday July 21, 2006

• Upon seeing the news from Hong Kong and China, a
  nurse at the Bridgetown Hospital who cared for
  the Canadian patient calls a local reporter about
  the death.
• She tells the reporter that during a casual
  conversation with the patient, she learned that
  he was in Barbados on vacation to relax from his
  recent business trip to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

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Move 2 Friday July 21, 2006

• The reporter makes a series of calls to
  investigate, including local hospital and health
  ministry officials, PAHO, WHO, the CDC in Atlanta
  and a reporter friend who lives in Hong Kong and
  works for the CNN bureau there.
• At 400 p.m. Eastern time, CNN reports on the
  Barbados case, linking that case as possibly
  connected to the China outbreak.

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Move 2 Discussion

• Which agency within your national government has
  the lead role in coordination and information at
  this time? 
• How will you coordinate with other parts of your
  national government? With provincial, district
  and local government officials? With PAHO? WHO?
• What gaps are evident in information production
  and, especially, in coordination?  What does your
  agencys communications office need to do to
  engage more closely with your agencys pandemic
  response activities?
• What are the basic risk communications messages
  to deliver for this move?  Who will/should
  deliver the message?
• What is your strategy for communicating with the
  public at this point, and/or a course of action
  to recommend?

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Move 3 Saturday July 22, 2006

• Barbados announces two additional deaths from an
  influenza-like respiratory illness similar to
  the initial case.
• One case was a businessman from Brazil who had
  stayed in the same hotel as the Canadian tourist.
  The other case was a female student from
  Argentina who had no contact with the Canadian
  case.
• The World Health Organization announces that it
  is sending teams to China and to Barbados to
  investigate but holds off on raising the Pandemic
  Alert Level.

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Move 3 Saturday July 22, 2006

• The recently appointed Canadian Minister of
  Health, fearing a repeat of Torontos SARS
  experience in 2003, announces that a global
  pandemic is upon us and that Canada should ban
  all flights originating from the Caribbean and
  from Southeast Asia.
• The media are reporting that increasing numbers
  of tourists are cancelling their trips to the
  Caribbean and that, if sustained, the viability
  of the economies of many Caribbean nations could
  be threatened.

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Move 3 Discussion

• Which agency within your national government has
  the lead role in coordination and information at
  this time? 
• How will you coordinate with other parts of your
  national government? With provincial, district
  and local government officials? With PAHO? WHO?
• What gaps are evident in information production
  and, especially, in coordination?  What does your
  agencys communications office need to do to
  engage more closely with your agencys pandemic
  response activities?
• What are the basic risk communications messages
  to deliver for this move?  Who will/should
  deliver the message?
• What is your strategy for communicating with the
  public at this point, and/or a course of action
  to recommend?

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Wrapup/Conclusions

• Maintain regular contact before, during and after
  an influenza pandemic
• Exchange pre-released public health messages on a
  regular basis before, during and after a pandemic
  outbreak
• Develop communications playbooks and plans that
  can be budgeted and are executable--not a wish
  list plan to evaluate and update plans
  following a real world incident

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Wrapup/Conclusions

• Meet regularly on communications issues
• Identify appropriate liaisons from each Nation
  who will maintain regular contact, share
  information and identify and address emerging
  issues and
• Share communications products when appropriate.
• Leadership from PAHO and WHO