The University of Arizona conducted a pandemic flu exercise on Friday at its health sciences campuses in Tucson and Phoenix to tackle any issues that may arise during an infectious disease outbreak in Arizona.
Roughly 600 students from UA, Northern Arizona University and Arizona State University participated in the event, which aimed to challenge people in the health, law and journalism professions for team-based responses to public health emergencies. The exercise was moderated by Dr. Richard Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general and a professor in the UAβs College of Public Health.
The students worked with more than 50 faculty facilitators in teams representing eight Arizona communities β Bisbee, Flagstaff, Kingman, Tuba City, Tucson, Phoenix, Prescott and Yuma β and the state emergency operations center. The teams used actual demographics to assess a variety of disaster scenarios related to a flu pandemic.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has already recorded eight confirmed cases of influenza in Pima County since the season began on Sept. 29, according to Aaron Pacheco, spokesman for the Pima County Health Department. There were nearly 3,000 confirmed cases of the flu in Pima County last year, with a sharp spike very late in the season β around February.
The pandemic flu exercise was preceded on Friday by a flu vaccine clinic for UA students, faculty and staff. Pacheco emphasized that the flu season is hard to predict, so getting a flu shot is the best way to ensure protection for both yourself and those around you.
βThis is really the best time for people to get vaccinated β early in the season before we start to see those numbers take off,β Pacheco said.
