If there were a local outbreak of a deadly infectious disease, how well can regional health and safety organizations control it?

Regional counties and tribes plan to find out during a simulation Jan. 20 of a pneumonic plague outbreak.

In the three-hour exercise, health officials and hospitals will be notified that members of a bike race traveling through Cortez to Durango have been infected with the highly contagious and deadly disease.

Pneumonic plague has flu-like symptoms but leads to death if left untreated with medications, making it an ideal practice scenario.

“It’s a functional exercise where agencies will be given information and they have to act on it, not just have a discussion about,” said Karen Dickson, emergency preparedness coordinator for the Montezuma County Health Department.

Local hospitals and clinics will be tested on how well they deal with an influx of patients and diagnose the problem. Health departments will make actual phone calls to secure proper medications needed to treat the disease and prevent its spread.

Montezuma County’s Emergency Operations Center at the sheriff’s office will be but into action during the mock crisis.

Agencies must work together to pass on critical information to each other, the public and caregivers.

Logistics include organizing quarantines if necessary, treating victims, working with the media to inform the public, investigating the disease’s origins, and determining who may have come into contact with infected persons so they can be treated.

Other players include schools, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospice, clinics, and large venues where people congregate.

“It’s good communication practice and motivates organizations to dust off their emergency action plans, review and update them,” said Paul Hollar, emergency manager for Montezuma County.

The simulation is a run-up to a full-scale infectious disease simulation that will take place in June 2017 and will be state-wide.

jmimiaga@the-journal.com