Could the timing have been more appropriate?

Yesterday’s visit to Arizona by president Barack Obama –who made the state a symbolic podium for the stimulus package announcement –was bookended by two pandemic influenza preparedness exercises.

Following last Thursday’s exercise, today’s session for senior administrators in the state’s education and health systems will let them look at several complex factors that come into play if the bird flu virus spread to Arizona.

It is no accident that Arizona ranks high in pandemic flu preparedness. The Arizona Department of Health Services has a comprehensive plan in place.

The Participants: Pinal County and Maricopa County

The Exercise: Pandemic Influenza School Closure Exercise

Collaborators: W. P. Carey School of Healh Policy and Management, Arizona Department of Health Services, Decision Theater

Sidebar: check out Lessons Learned from last week’s exercise