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The Fairfax County Health Department has begun preparations to protect all residents of Fairfax County in the event of a smallpox outbreak in the area. Under the direction of state health and emergency preparedness agencies and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Fairfax County Health Department is developing a two-part strategy:
The first phase includes the early vaccination of medical personnel and does not involve the schools. The second phase is the development of a plan for a communitywide response that will be needed if a smallpox outbreak required mass vaccination. Because FCPS has facilities and resources—such as buses—available, the school system has been asked to participate in this planning.
FCPS is working with the county government and the health department on the communitywide response for mass vaccination. In the unlikely event that a smallpox outbreak required all Fairfax County residents to be vaccinated, the county’s high school buildings would be used by health department medical teams as vaccination centers. Schools would be closed for approximately five days during the vaccination period. A significant school system effort will be needed to maintain the school buildings and to provide logistical support to the medical teams as they vaccinate approximately one million county residents. Specific facility plans for each high school are being developed with the health department, and training for FCPS employees is under way.
Through the FCPS web site, Channel 21, e-mail, and school newsletters, FCPS will continue to keep the school community aware of security precautions being taken in its schools. For information about your school’s participation in these and other critical incident preparations, please contact your principal.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) smallpox information and response hot line at 1-888-246-2675 (English), 1-888-246-2857 (Espanol), or 1-866-874-2646 (TTY)
Fairfax County Health Department home page
Virginia Department
of Health home page
General FCPS Crisis Communication Resources
Crisis Response, including crisis management, crisis communication and crisis intervention
Resources for Major Critical Incidents
Emergency Preparedness and Support Frequently Asked Questions
DISCLAIMER: This web page contains links to one or more web pages that are outside the FCPS network. FCPS does not control the content or relevancy of these pages.
Last
update:
November 18, 2005
Curator: Rose Kaspersen,
Rose.Kaspersen@fcps.edu