What is Swine Flu and is it Contagious?

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.

In late March 2009, cases of human infection with swine flu (version H1N1) were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Several other U.S. states (including Kansas) have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans. An updated count of these cases is available at www.cdc.gov/swineflu.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have determined that this swine influenza (version H1N1) is contagious and is spreading from human to human. The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore threat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

Johnson County Health Department and many support agencies continue to monitor the situation in accordance with the plans and procedures that were developed for just this type of an event. For the most up-to-date information about the swine flu outbreak visit http://health.jocogov.org.

Update on Swine Flu

Johnson County Public Health personnel continue to monitor the national swine flu outbreak. Updated information continues to get posted to their website: http://health.jocogov.org. Specifically, they posted a FAQ about swine flu issues that provides significant information about many of the issues that the public has concern over related to swine flu. I recommend you review it by clicking here.

Update on Swine Flu

Emergency preparedness personnel from Johnson County Public Health are monitoring the national situation surrounding the Swine Flu cases. Currently there are 40 confirmed cases throughout the country including 2 in Kansas, but none in Johnson County or Metro KC. Human cases in the United States have continued to be mild, but health experts are monitoring the situation.

For the most up-to-date information on this issue visit http://health.jocogov.org or www.cdc.gov/swineflu.

Preparedness Summit Video

The 2009 Disaster Preparedness Summit was very successful. Many people in attendence felt like it was a step forward in Johnson County's efforts to become fully prepared for emergencies and disasters.

A video of the event has been posted to the Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security YouTube Channel or can be viewed here.

2009 Disaster Preparedness Summit

Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security hosted the 2009 Disaster Preparedness Summit today to ascertain the successful programs and concepts related to Emergency Preparedness in Johnson County as well as the areas that need improvement.
County and city representatives from Med-Act, the Emergency Communications Center, Health Department, Regional Fire Districts, and several fire and law forcement representatives from numerous cities.

This was the first time for this type of event and comes on the heels of other preparedness efforts including the Infrastructure Preparedness Workshops and the Severe Weather Awareness Seminar Series.

For more information about these activities, visit www.jocoem.org.

National Volunteer Week -- April 19-25

The HandsOn Network and the Points of Light Institute have declared this week as National Volunteer Week. Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security is highly dependant on our volunteers on a day-to-day basis and during emergencies and disasters. These volunteers come in many forms and in many ways.

Our office primarily supports local Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and the Medical Reserve Corps of Kansas City. These are two great opportunities to learn more about how to be prepared for emergencies as well as prepare to help us during emergencies.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank two volunteers in our office. Mike Costello has served with Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security for many years as a professional volunteer. His time and dedication to the continued efforts to make Johnson County more prepared for emergencies is invaluable. Thanks Mike!

I would also like to thank Carlyn Fogle who has served as a volunteer intern in our office this semester. Her time and efforts have helped lead to our Prepared Everywhere concepts in many of the common social networking arenas such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Thanks Carlyn!

5,000 Prepared Citizens

Do you know what that number represents? It is approximately 1% of Johnson County's total population. Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security is seeking out 5,000 citizens to say they are willing to be more prepared in 2009 for emergencies and disasters. While still only a small fraction of the population, this type of commitment is contagious and we would be a great stepping stone to make Johnson County -- A Community Prepared.

We are tracking these commitments through our 5,000 Prepared Citizens Facebook page. You can find a link to this page at our Prepared Everywhere site or by clicking here.

Help us reach our goal!

New Audio Files (Available in English and Espanol)

Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security is proud to offer several new audio files as part of our JOCOReader program. These files include Preparing Your Pets for Emergencies and information about United Way's 211 program. The JOCOReader program now also contains several audio files in Spanish. We fully realize that preparing our community for emergencies means serving our community in as many ways as possible. These audio files can be downloaded by clicking here.

Regional Exercise Participation

Adam Crowe (Assistant Director of Community Preparedness) joined other public information officers and communication coordinators from various regional organizations including representatives from local government, State government, and the Federal government for an exercise to test how the region would respond to public information needs related to a foreign animal disease scenario.  While only an exercise, it was a valuable test of the emergency preparedness systems we have in place locally and throughout the region.

Ready Classroom

FEMA and Discovery Education have released a new educational site called ReadyClassroom.  It is a great interactive online website designed educate the general public about threats in their area and preparedness tactics to address them.  They have maps and videos to ensure that it is dynamic and applicable to all citizens.  Lastly, it has preparedness education sections based on educational grade and function (ex: for teachers and administrators).

You can visit this great website by clicking here.

National Presentations

Two staff members from Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security are presenting at national conferences this week.  Matt May (Assistant Director of Operations) is presenting at a national conference to discuss how Johnson County uses WebEOC as our integrated incident management software system.  Likewise, Adam Crowe (Assistant Director of Community Preparedness) is speaking at the Partners for Emergency Preparedness Conference to discuss Johnson County's successful public-private partnerships.  Both presenters were invited to present because of the high level of comprehensive preparedness Johnson County maintains to ensure our county is as prepared as we can be for all types of emergencies or disasters.

Johnson County Infrastructure Preparedness Workshop, Session 2

Much thanks to KCP&L for providing expert staff to talk this morning with community representatives about how they prepare for emergencies and disasters that impact their service. Community representatives from Westwood, Olathe, Overland Park, Gardner, Lenexa, and the County gained valuable knowledge about this infrastructure partner. This presentation was a part of the Johnson County--A Community Prepared Infrastructure Preparedness Workshops.

Presentation for the Shawnee LDS Church

Adam Crowe (Assistant Director of Community Preparedness) provided a presentation to the lady's group at the Shawnee LDS Church last night. Topics included severe weather awareness, emergency management, Johnson County--A Community Prepared, and personal preparedness.

Thanks for the invitation!

Review of "Super Tuesday" Tornado Outbreak (February 2008)

According this article, the National Weather Service issued a service assessment of the (so called) Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak of February 5-6, 2008 to review their operational response as well as the response of the public to their watches & warnings. The most interesting finding was as follows:

"In reviewing the public response, the team found that two-thirds of the victims were in mobile homes, and 60 percent did not have access to safe shelter (i.e., a basement or storm cellar). The majority of the survivors interviewed for the assessment sought shelter in the best location available to them, but most of them also did not have access to a safe shelter. Some indicated they thought the threat was minimal because February is not within traditional tornado season. Several of those interviewed said they spent time seeking confirmation and went to a safe location only after they saw a tornado. Many people minimized the threat of personal risk through “optimism bias,” the belief that such bad things only happen to other people."

Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security would like to remind everyone that severe weather--including tornados--can happen any time of year (including February!). That is why it is important to always be aware of the current weather conditions as well as the emergence of watches and warnings. While the outdoor warning sirens are a critical piece of public notification, they should be supplimented through a comprehensive warning strategy that includes NOAA All-Hazard Weather Radios, the Emergency Alert System, and other notifications like the free JOCOAlert SMS-text notification.

New Business Preparedness Tools

FEMA has released a new website targeted at private sector and business preparedness efforts. The new page contains a variety of links and guides to aid businesses (small-to-large) in when, where, and how they prepare for a variety of emergencies such as flooding, fire, and other natural hazards. The website can be viewed by clicking here.

Social Networking in Disasters

This article references the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in emergencies and disasters such as the Red River flooding near Fargo. Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security understands the need to prepare to communicate with the general public in as many ways as possible during the adverse conditions caused by an emergency or disaster. Consequently, Johnson County has embraced social networking as one of our many ways to communicate with the public. We maintain these blogs as well as a Facebook page, Twitter Stream, and YouTube channel. We would love for you to follow us!

Emergency Preparedness Class in Mission on April 29

The City of Mission Police Department is sponsoring an Emergency Preparedness Class on April 29, 2009, from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at the Sylvester Power Community Center (Room E). The class will cover local hazards, mitigation of the impact of disasters, making home emergency supply kits, and devloping an emergency plan.

The class is free and open to the public. To attend, please send your RSVP to Officer M. Augustine at 913-676-8300 or maugustine@missionpd.org.

Red River Flooding -- An Important Reminder

The Red River (which runs along the Minnesota-North Dakota border) is approaching record flood levels, likely to break century-old records this weekend. National news media have provided significant coverage for this event as rain, snow, and meltwater have challenged the hundreds of volunteers, National Guard troops, and Red Cross personnel in the area. This article contains amazing pictures of the challenges they are facing.

Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security would like to express our sympathy and concern for all those impacted by this flooding situation. These type of flooding situations should remind us all that we must always be prepared for all kinds of emergencies. Even if you think you don't live in a floodplain you should routinely check to ensure the floodplains haven't changed or your home hasn't been designated to be in an inundation zone for a community dam.

The Johnson County AIMS service can help with this evaluation. Simply click here.