Pandemic Flu Summit Remarks
Friday, March 17, 2006
Earlier this week, a series of tornadoes ripped through Central Illinois. They tore through homes. They left people injured. They turned people’s lives upside down. We declared disaster areas in seven counties, and implemented a coordinated response.
Every time we face a crisis like this, it reminds us yet again that public safety is the first responsibility of government. And that’s why we’re here today.
The lesson of the last few years – from the tragedy of September 11th to Hurricane Katrina – is that we always have to plan for emergencies, and we always have to be able to respond to them.
Today, we’re here to talk about how the federal government, how the State of Illinois, and how local governments like the City of Chicago – together with the business community and other partners -- can prepare for one of the greatest dangers we face: pandemic influenza.
We’re here today to talk about our preparations to deal with the possibility of an outbreak of pandemic influenza, because history tells us that the cost of not being prepared is far too great.
On September 21, 1918, less than a hundred miles from here in Rockford, several men reported feeling sick. They were soldiers at Camp Grant, where 40,000 troops were housed and trained.
In just six days, the base hospital was overwhelmed with more than 4,000 sick soldiers. More than 100 of them died within one 24-hour period. Rockford had just been introduced to history’s most lethal flu virus: the Spanish Flu.
It would hit Illinois hard.
At the Great Lakes Naval Station north of Chicago, nearly 5,000 sailors suddenly fell ill. In Chicago, the mortality rate for influenza cases at Cook County Hospital was nearly 40 percent.
And the illness took its greatest toll on the young. Men and women between the ages of 20 and 40 died at a rate almost four times greater than men and women between the ages of 41 and 60.
Across the country, the situation deteriorated. Confidential Red Cross reports described panic “akin to the terror of the Middle Ages” of the plague.
And in the end, more than half-a-million Americans died. In fact, more Americans died of the Spanish Flu than died fighting during World War I. And during 1918, the average life-span in the United States actually dropped by 12 years.
What started because of a virus continued because our government failed to act. Despite warnings that the flu was on its way, the federal government ignored all of the red flags. And as the pandemic spread, they insisted that everything was fine.
They were in denial. They were disorganized. They were dishonest. And the results were disastrous.
That’s the lesson of the Spanish Flu. It’s a lesson we cannot afford to repeat.
The most immediate danger of a pandemic comes from an avian flu, or “bird flu.” The particular virus in question has been found in poultry throughout Asia.
The virus has since moved to Africa, starting with a commercial poultry farm in Nigeria in February, and on to Niger and Egypt since then. Just last week, it was discovered in Cameroon.
And the virus has spread to wild birds in Europe – in nations like Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.
To date, according to the World Health Organization, 97 people have died as a result of the virus.
While bird flu does not yet easily transmit between people, as long as it continues to circulate in animals, the risk remains.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a medium-sized pandemic could cause 89,000 to 207,000 deaths across the nation.
That tells us that every city must be prepared. It tells us that every state must be prepared. And most importantly, it tells us that the federal government must be prepared.
Here in Illinois, we have made emergency preparedness a top priority. And our hard work has paid off.
We hold the top rating for bioterrorism preparedness from the CDC. Andour continuity of government plan is one of only 7 in the nationto receive accreditation from the National Emergency Management Agency and FEMA.
Those two ratings make us one of only 3 states to hold a top rating for both emergency management and bioterrorism preparedness.
In addition, our Homeland Security Strategy has received unanimous approval from the U.S. Homeland Security Strategy Review Board, which makes us one of the few states to receive unanimous approval.
And our State Weapons of Mass Destruction Teams won the award for Innovations in Homeland Security from Harvard University.
We are the only state in America whose state and local fire services, law enforcement, public health and emergency responders can all come to each others’ aid under mutual aid agreements we’ve reached over the last few years.
And we’re working with the private sector in preparing for emergencies, by creating a Business Mutual Aid System. It will allow us to share the best emergency training programs, make sure that those in government and business are communicating well, and keep business running during emergencies.
And as we’ve been planning and preparing, we’ve also invested in new technologies to help us respond to emergencies.
Last fall, we opened a new State Emergency Operations Center in Springfield.
It’s a state-of-the-art facility that includes a new terrorism intelligence center, our emergency management communications center and our radiological emergency center.
And in its first real test since it opened, the resources available at our new Emergency Operations Center helped us respond to the damage caused by the tornadoes that struck Central Illinois.
In addition to the Emergency Operations Center, our Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance System provides a secure network for hospitals, doctors, and other health care providers to report infectious diseases to the CDC and the Illinois Department of Public Health.
And we’ve also coordinated radio operations between emergency responders – so they can talk to each other and to the people staffing the Emergency Operations Center.
These assets will help us respond quickly and effectively if pandemic influenza ever strikes Illinois. Every one of those assets will help us implement our Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan.
We issued the most recent version of our Plan three weeks ago. It describes a coordinated effort to prevent, respond to and recover from a pandemic. It’s comprehensive and detailed. It reflects years of hard work. And as we continue to learn more about pandemics – the plan will continue to evolve.
Our Plan clearly articulates the role of state government in responding to a crisis.
It provides for communication of accurate information to the people of Illinois.
It creates a unified command structure.
And it identifies more than 100 responsibilities for nearly 30 state agencies, throughout six stages of a pandemic experience.
For example, if there is a large surge of patients in our hospitals, the Plan says that our Department of Public Health will handle emergency medical personnel and coordinate with the CDC, World Health Organization and local hospitals.
The Illinois Department of Human Services will provide medical support. Central Management Services will gather equipment and supplies.
The Illinois Departments of Military Affairs and Transportation will help provide planes, trucks and drivers. The American Red Cross will provide volunteers. And IEMA will coordinate our overall response.
This is just one piece of a much larger document that outlines what will be done, who will do it, when they’ll do it, and how they’ll do it.
And we’re practicing our response – with a series of exercises designed to further increase our readiness. Just this past Tuesday, the Directors of IEMA, the Department of Public Health, and the Department of Agriculture led an all-day exercise. It presented pandemic scenarios and addressed issues like the distribution of vaccines, equipment and supplies.
We’ve planned more exercises for the next few months and beyond. It’s all part of doing everything we can to be prepared.
In a few minutes, we’ll sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the State of Illinois and the federal government.
It outlines our respective duties in preparing for – and responding to – a pandemic. One of the primary responsibilities assigned to the State is formulating a plan, which we’ve already done.
We will continue to refine our plan, and we will do everything required of the State of Illinois.
But we also need to know that the federal government’s efforts will not end with the signing of this document.
Our agreement outlines several key roles for the federal government, and let me be clear – the people of Illinois are counting on them being fulfilled.
The federal government is responsible for monitoring international and domestic outbreaks of influenza. They are responsible for providing funding and technical assistance to state and local governments, and for developing and stockpiling vaccines and antivirals.
These are important responsibilities. And I cannot stress how crucial it is that the federal government meet these responsibilities.
That’s why we need the federal government to provide more funding to state and local governments, to help us as we make our plans.
It’s also why we need the federal government to devote more attention and resources to containing the virus overseas.
The federal pandemic plan only requested $250 million for iternational control, monitoring and preparedness. Many say that’s much too little.
Asian and African countries must train health workers and stock hospitals. And, in countries like Indonesia, there hasn’t been enough money to compensate farmers who kill infected poultry. As a result, many local farmers sell the infected poultry instead. And the virus spreads.We also need the federal government to closely inspect shipments that cross our borders.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it will increase monitoring of birds migrating from Asia to Alaska. That’s a good idea.
But some experts believe that the virus may enter the United States through the smuggling of illegal birds and poultry products. In fact, aiwan and Nigeria have both blamed the outbreak of the virus on the illegal shipment of poultry.
We need the federal government to invest more money in stockpiling vaccines and antivirals.
And we must have a clear understanding of how our country will improve its ability to produce and distribute vaccines. Several companies in Illinois can be assets in doing so.
In addition, the federal plan to stockpile Tamiflu -- the leading antiviral -- is only partially funded by the federal government. That lack of funding will force states to pull funds from other health programs. We need a commitment from the federal government to do more.
The title of today’s conference is “Illinois Prepares”. What’s left unsaid is what we’re preparing for. I hope that it’s something that never happens. But history tells us it could.
President Kennedy once noted that the Chinese symbol for “crisis” has two brush strokes – one for danger, the other for opportunity. And though it’s difficult to see the opportunities presented by something as dangerous as a pandemic, I think they exist.
In preparing for the possibility of an outbreak of pandemic flu, we also have the opportunity to show the American people that we are protecting them.
We have the opportunity to give them the peace of mind they need to go about their lives without worrying about whether the response to an outbreak of avian flu or a natural disaster will be enough.
If we do our jobs successfully, we can keep them safe. And we can give them faith in their government.
Because when people see the damage to Manhattan on 9/11, the rising waters of New Orleans left by Hurricane Katrina, or the aftermath of a tornado in Central Illinois, they want to know that their government has a plan and that the plan will work.
That’s why we’ve taken every available step – and created some new ones – to make sure that Illinois is better prepared than anyone else to deal with natural disasters, deal with outbreaks of diseases like pandemic flu, and deal with incidents of terrorism.
We will continue to do everything we can – and then some – because our responsibility to the people of Illinois requires nothing less. And we will continue to work with – and demand more – from the federal government – because our responsibilities to the people of our state require that, too.
I thank Secretary Leavitt for being here today. And I look forward to the opportunity to work even more closely with the federal government so we can make sure that the people of Illinois – and every state – are safe, no matter what problems or challenges come our way.
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