“Another epidemic in Santa Barbara County is not merely a possibility — it is an inevitability” is the opening line in a Grand Jury report asking if the Public Health Department was ready for the next epidemic. The answer was both yes and no, because the field is not one that is simply black and white, answered Mouhanad Hammami, who directs the county’s health department.
One reason was because it wasn’t “feasible to have a response plan to every known bacteria out there,” he said, but the county did have such plans for pathogens like anthrax or hepatitis a, plans that were scalable and flexible, as were the outlined mass dispensing of vaccines or prophylaxis. As for keeping up to date with risk assessments, Hammami’s department met regularly with the national, state, regional, and local networks to exchange the latest information. And they didn’t only meet with their active peers; they also met with people experienced in the field and partners at colleges and the space base.
Accompanying Hammami was Dr. Henning Ansorg, the county’s health officer. He responded to questions from the supervisors about threats like bird flu — that pathogen comes under the state agriculture and fish and wildlife offices, though Public Health stays in touch with veterinarians — and vaccines: Despite the changeovers at federal agencies, local vaccination rates are still “in very good shape,” above 95 percent for measles, for instance. The next COVID booster, however, isn’t a federal priority, though the current booster is still advised, Ansorg said, adding that COVID was at its lowest rate in two years.
To the Grand Jury question about up-to-date technology, Hammami said that Public Health was adding a software tool — the National Syndromic Surveillance Program — to collect healthcare information in real time before the end of the year. And that, while they do communicate regularly with their partners locally, he saw room for improvement in some of the ways they communicated about risks. Bioterrorism, however, for which the Grand Jury recommended greater preparation, was the purview of the Sheriff’s Office. Public Health would only become involved in the health component of any threat, Hammami said. Wastewater surveillance, while important in detecting trends, was a tool that the county could not demand, Hammami informed the supervisors. California’s Public Health Department as well as the federal Centers for Disease Control provided the results of poop tests in Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Lompoc. Not North County? asked Supervisor Joan Hartmann. No, Santa Maria declined, said Ansorg, out of a concern about privacy issues.
