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Pandemic Communicable Disease

Pandemic 

A pandemic is a rare, but recurring communicable disease event that is more widespread than usual seasonal illness. It can occur during any time of the year, not just when seasonal flu or other illness are expected. A pandemic virus is an outbreak of a new virus to which people have no immunity and for which there is no vaccine, occurring on multiple continents at the same time.

During a pandemic in the United States, depending on the organism, as many as four in 10 school-age children may become sick, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Many teachers, students, and staff members would also be ill or need to care for ill family members and not be able to report to work. Disruptions to school, work and general life should be expected. In some cases, schools may be required to close for an extended period of time.

The following links provide resources to assist schools and individuals in their efforts to plan for and respond to a pandemic outbreak. Much can be learned from public health’s experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. DPI’s resources and external links will be updated as agencies’ respond to current and future, real and potential pandemics.

Resources are divided into the following two areas: 

  1. Pandemic Planning Tools
  2. Pandemic Outbreak Management Measures

Pandemic Planning Tools

A pandemic virus is an outbreak of a new virus to which people have no immunity and for which there is no vaccine, occurring on multiple continents at the same time. As the SARs CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic demonstrated, every school needs to develop a plan to address a possible communicable disease pandemic. Making this plan a part of the school’s overall crisis or safety plan allows school administration to quickly implement the plan.

Many of the national resources for pandemic planning were developed before the global COVID-19 Pandemic. As new resources are created based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic these will be replaced.

Pandemic Outbreak Management Measures

A school district’s ability to keep their students and staff safe and healthy is dependent on knowledge regarding pandemic planning and recommended strategies for illness management. This webpage contains resources and tools to assist with the following:

  • Awareness of illness outbreaks with surveillance guidelines and tools.
  • Education of the illness prevention strategies with communicable disease prevention curriculum.
  • Preparation for school closures due to high levels of communicable disease.

School collaboration with local public health departments, medical providers and emergency management personnel is critical to providing safe and effective care.

Pandemic Illness Surveillance