A. Purpose and Scope
This document presents a strategic framework for communities and healthcare
facilities to plan and prepare for the recurrence of SARS-CoV transmission
and respond to a SARS outbreak. Directed to state and local health departments,
healthcare facilities, and healthcare personnel, the document addresses
both the rationale and the strategies for SARS preparedness and response
and provides a foundation for the development of more detailed operational
plans and procedures for responding to SARS at the local level. Suggested
activities include those needed to prepare for an introduction of SARS-CoV,
to quickly detect possible SARS cases and clusters, and to prevent and
contain SARS-CoV transmission.
This document
includes suggested activities to be conducted both in the absence of
SARS-CoV transmission in the world and in the context of a recurrence
of person-to-person transmission. A companion document, In
the Absence of SARS-CoV Transmission Worldwide: Guidance for Surveillance,
Clinical and Laboratory Evaluation, and Reporting,
consolidates the recommended activities for the setting of no person-to-person
transmission. If SARS-CoV transmission is documented anywhere in
the world, CDC will promptly review all available information and provide
additional guidance as indicated via the Health Alert Network (HAN),
Epi-X, and partner organizations. Current information will also
be posted on CDC's SARS website.
Public Health Guidance for Community-Level Preparedness and Response
to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has its basis in
the United States Government Interagency SARS Concept of Operations
Plan (CONPLAN), which outlines the Federal government's strategy
for a coordinated national response to an outbreak of SARS. The CONPLAN
provides planning guidance for a timely, coordinated response by federal
agencies to a SARS emergency and serves as a foundation for the development
of operational plans and procedures at the national, state, and local
levels. Whereas the focus of the CONPLAN is interagency and intergovernmental
coordination, CDC's Public Health Guidance for Community-Level
Preparedness and Response to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) provides
planning guidance, strategies, and tools for the local public health
and healthcare officials who provide the first line of readiness and
action in detecting and containing a SARS outbreak.
Many of the approaches and activities for preparedness and response
to SARS are similar or identical to those involved in combating other
infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza and intentionally spread
smallpox or plague. Therefore, topics covered in this document may be
relevant to or already addressed in other local emergency preparedness
plans.
B. Development Process
The document was prepared by CDC's SARS Preparedness Committee, which
was assembled to prepare for the possibility of future SARS outbreaks.
The Committee includes eight working groups, each of which addressed
a component of SARS preparedness and response: Surveillance, Clinical
Management, Preparedness in Healthcare Facilities, Community Response,
Laboratory Diagnostics, Information Technology, Communication and Education,
and Special Studies. The working groups derived the guidance document
from lessons learned during the 2003 epidemic, other CDC preparedness
and response plans, and the advice, suggestions, and comments of state
and local health officials and representatives of professional organizations,
convened by means of teleconferences and meetings. Meetings were held
on August 12-13, 2003 (public health preparedness and response), September
12, 2003 (preparedness in healthcare facilities), and September 18, 2003
(laboratory diagnostics).
C. Objectives The strategies, guidelines, and tools included in this document are
designed to enable states and communities to achieve the following objectives:
- Rapidly
and efficiently identify cases of SARS-CoV disease and their exposed
contacts
- Ensure
rapid information exchange among clinicians, public health officials,
and administrators of healthcare facilities about potential SARS cases
- Rapidly
and effectively implement measures to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV
- Continuously
monitor the course and characteristics of a SARS outbreak and promptly
revise control strategies as needed
- Implement
effective communication and education strategies for the public, the
media, community officials, healthcare communities, and public health
communities to ensure an appropriate response to SARS
- Coordinate
and integrate SARS preparedness and response planning efforts with
other preparedness plans and systems
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