By Don Thompson
The Fresno Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. 鈥� California public health officials are dipping into state and federal stockpiles to equip up to 10,000 farmworkers with masks, gloves, goggles, and other safety gear as the state confirms at least of bird flu as of early November. It鈥檚 the latest reminder of the state鈥檚 struggle to remain prepared amid multibillion-dollar deficits.
Officials said they began distributing more than 2 million pieces of personal protective equipment in late May, four months before the first human case was confirmed in the state. They said they began ramping up coordination with local health officials in April after bird flu was first detected in cattle in the U.S. Bird flu has now been confirmed at more than in central California, and traces were recently detected at a wastewater sampling site in Los Angeles County. Bird flu was also recently detected in in Sacramento County.
California is putting a number of lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic to use, such as coordinating emergency response with local health officials and tracking infectious diseases through , as the state tries to limit the spread of bird flu to humans. It鈥檚 striving to maintain an adequate emergency stockpile to withstand the first wave of any new public health disaster without hemorrhaging the state budget.
鈥淲e are far better prepared to respond to a pandemic than we were in 2020,鈥� said Amy Palmer, a spokesperson for the Governor鈥檚 Office of Emergency Services.
For instance, before the coronavirus struck in 2020, the state鈥檚 emergency supplies stockpile was barely big enough to crowd two basketball courts.
By the time California ramped up its pandemic response, it had enough personal protective equipment and other disaster supplies to fill 52 football fields. California spent $15.6 billion on direct pandemic response during the COVID crisis years, much of it provided by the federal government.
Today, the stockpile fits into about 12陆 football fields, though it can seesaw from month to month.
According to the state, the current stockpile includes 101 million face masks, 26 million more than the 90-day supply recommended by .
That includes 88 million N95 masks, more than the emergency services agency said was needed last year. The high-efficiency masks are considered crucial to protect against airborne viruses such as COVID-19.
Although the state is building up its stockpile, Palmer could not say if the additional masks are related to fears of bird flu, only that planners are always working 鈥渢o keep pace with the current risk environment.鈥�
The state鈥檚 goal, Palmer said, is to have 鈥渁n initial supply during emergencies to allow us the time to secure resources,鈥� whether through the federal government or by buying more.
There is no indication of spread between humans in the recent California bird flu cases, and health officials say public risk remains low. Human transmission of bird flu is among for a new pandemic, alongside the possibility of a resurgent mutant coronavirus; wider international spread of mpox, Marburg virus, or Ebola; or an entirely new virus for which there initially is no immunity or vaccine.
Yet, health officials nationwide have bird flu transmission. And California has a history of swinging back and forth on preparedness.
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in California鈥檚 pandemic preparedness in 2006 in response to an earlier threat from bird flu. That included three mobile hospitals that could immediately be deployed during disasters.
Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, in 2011 as state finances went bust. By the time COVID-19 struck, the state released 21 million N95 masks, some so old they were date.
Now hospitals are required to maintain their own three-month supply of masks, gowns, and other personal protective equipment under a passed in 2020. California鈥檚 also uniquely requires hospitals and other high-risk workplaces to follow precautions such as using negative pressure isolation rooms and the highest level of protective equipment until more is known about a new pathogen.
鈥淚t is difficult to overstate the level of unpreparedness exhibited by hospitals both in and outside of California in dealing with the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19,鈥� according to a legislative analysis. 鈥淗arrowing images of nurses walking the corridors of hospitals in makeshift masks and garbage bags became commonplace.鈥�
California Hospital Association spokesperson Jan Emerson-Shea said hospitals 鈥渃ontinuously prepare to respond to all types of disasters, including outbreaks of transmissible viruses.鈥�
In addition, Palmer said California has five mobile hospitals acquired from the federal government, though they got during the pandemic. She said they have to be maintained, such as making sure pulse oximeters have working batteries.
But, once again, the current deficit has the state trying to strike a balance.
While lawmakers rejected most of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 to public health funding, the state slashed funding for its stockpile of personal protective equipment by one-third a year ago after it determined that no additional COVID-related purchases were necessary, according to the Department of Finance . California eliminated funding this year for eight 53-foot-long trailers that would have moved stockpiled items between warehouses. It鈥檚 also cutting nearly $40 million over the next four years from its $175 million disaster stockpile budget.
The state鈥檚 preparedness wasn鈥檛 good enough for , which gathered more than 1 million signatures to put a ballot measure before voters in November. would have increased taxes on people with incomes over $5 million and used that money for pandemic prevention and response.
But after one of its key financial supporters, former cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, was convicted of defrauding customers and investors. In exchange for initiative backers dropping the measure, to broaden the scope of the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, which was created to focus on developing new medicines and therapies, to include technologies for preventing another pandemic.
鈥淏y harnessing the power of precision medicine, California is moving to the forefront of pandemic preparedness and prevention,鈥� Newsom said at the time.
Rodger Butler, a spokesperson for the state Health and Human Services Agency, said it鈥檚 unclear if the precision medicine initiative will receive additional funding.
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