what would the florida state agency do in response to a pandemic event

This interim guidance is intended for organizers and staff responsible for planning mass gatherings or large community events in the Usa. A mass gathering is a planned or spontaneous event with a large number of people in omnipresence that could strain the planning and response resources of the customs hosting the result, such as concerts, festivals, conferences, worship services, and sporting events.

Guidance specific to schools and childcare settings, institutions of college education, and community and faith-based organizations can be establish on the CDC's website focused on prevention COVID-19 spread in communities.

As the COVID-xix outbreak evolves, CDC strongly encourages result organizers and staff to ready for the possibility of outbreaks in their communities. Creating an emergency plan for mass gatherings and big customs events can assist protect yous and the wellness of your event participants and local community.

Organizers should continually assess, based on current conditions, whether to postpone, cancel, or significantly reduce the number of attendees (if possible) for mass gatherings. Listed below are some considerations organizers should continue in mind as they make decisions most whether to postpone or cancel an issue. If organizers make up one's mind to proceed with an event they should consult the "Steps to Plan, Prepare, and Proceed with a Mass Gathering" section of this document.

Considerations for Postponing or Cancelling a Mass Gathering

There are a number of factors to consider when determining the need to postpone or cancel a large gathering. These include:

• The overall number of attendees. Larger gatherings (for example, more than than 250 people) offer more than opportunities for person-to-person contact and therefore pose greater risk of COVID-nineteen transmission.
• The number of people attending who are at greater gamble of more serious illness after contracting COVID-19. Older adults and persons with serious underlying medical weather condition might be at college risk for severe disease from COVID-19.
• The density of attendees within a confined area. Spread from person-to-person happens most often among close contacts (within 6 feet).
• The potential economical affect to participants, attendees, staff, and the larger customs.
• The level of transmission in your local customs and the level of transmission in the areas from which your attendees will travel. To meliorate understand the level of community transmission in your customs (and in the communities from which your attendees will exist traveling), consult with your local and/or state public wellness department.
• If in that location are ways in which to significantly reduce the number of attendees.For instance, for sporting events or schoolhouse concerts, organizers could consider holding the event but significantly reduce the number of audition members.

Steps to Plan, Set, and Continue with a Mass Gathering

The details of your emergency operations program should be based on the size and duration of your events, demographics of the participants, complexity of your event operations, and type of on-site services and activities your event may offer.

Review the existing emergency operations plans for your venues

• Meet with the emergency operations coordinator or planning squad at your venues. Discuss the emergency operations plans and decide how they may touch on aspects of your events, such every bit personnel, security, services and activities, functions, and resources. Piece of work with the emergency operations coordinator or planning team to set up for the key prevention strategies outlined in this guidance. Develop a contingency plan that addresses various scenarios described beneath which you may come across during a COVID-19 outbreak.
• Establish relationships with fundamental community partners and stakeholders. When forming primal relationships for your events, include relevant partners such as the local public health department, customs leaders, faith-based organizations, vendors, suppliers, hospitals, hotels, airlines, transportation companies, and constabulary enforcement. Collaborate and coordinate with them on broader planning efforts. Conspicuously identify each partner's role, responsibilities, and decision-making authority. Contact your local public health section for a copy of their outbreak response and mitigation plan for your customs. Participate in community-broad emergency preparedness activities.

Address primal prevention strategies in your emergency operations program

• Promote the daily practice of preventive actions. Use health messages and materials developed past credible public health sources such as your local public health department or CDC to encourage your event staff and participants to exercise expert personal health habits. Consider displaying signs (concrete and/or electronic) throughout the event to provide frequent reminders to participants to engage in everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-xix. These include:
  • Stay home when yous are sick, except to get medical care.
  • Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Wash your easily ofttimes with soap and h2o for at to the lowest degree twenty seconds, especially later on going to the bathroom; earlier eating; and after blowing your nose, cough, or sneezing.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and oral cavity with unwashed hands.
  • Clean frequently touched surfaces and objects daily.
• Handshakes and "high-fives" are often exchanged at meetings and sporting events, and these tin can be means in which COVID-19 tin can be transmitted from person to person. As a way of decreasing the social pressure to engage in these common behaviors, consider displaying signs (physical and/or electronic) that discourage these actions during the gathering.
• Provide COVID-19 prevention supplies at your events. Programme to have extra supplies on hand for consequence staff and participants, including sinks with soap, manus sanitizers, tissues, and disposable facemasks (for persons who start having symptoms).
  • Ensure that your events have supplies for event staff and participants, such every bit hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol, tissues, trash baskets, disposable facemasks, and cleaners and disinfectants. Clean oft touched surfaces and objects with detergent and water prior to disinfection, especially surfaces that are visibly dirty.
  • Routinely clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that are frequently touched. Clean with the cleaners typically used. Utilize all cleaning products according to the directions on the label.
  • For disinfection most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should exist effective.
    • Follow the manufacturer'southward instructions for all cleaning and disinfection products (east.thousand., concentration, application method and contact fourth dimension, etc).
    • Additionally, diluted household bleach solutions tin can exist used if advisable for the surface. Follow manufacturer's instructions for application and proper ventilation. Check to ensure the product is not by its expiration date. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. Unexpired household bleach volition be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted. Prepare a bleach solution past mixing:
      • 5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) bleach per gallon of water or
      • iv teaspoons bleach per quart of h2o
• Plan for staff absences. Develop and implement flexible omnipresence and sick-go out policies. Event staff need to stay home when they are sick, or they may need to stay home to care for a sick household member or intendance for their children in the event of school dismissals. Permit staff to work from home when possible. Identify critical job functions and positions and plan for alternative coverage by cantankerous-training staff (similar to planning for holiday staffing). Provide instructions about how and when to safely return to work.
• Implement flexible staff attendance and ill-leave policies (if possible). Require staff to stay habitation if they are sick or caring for a sick household member. Notify staff when you program to implement COVID-19 leave policies.
  • Annotation: Directly staff who get sick with COVID-19 symptoms to avoid contact with others and to seek medical advice.
• Promote messages that discourage people who are ill from attention events. This should include letters requesting that people exit events if they brainstorm to have symptoms of COVID-19, which include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. They should seek medical communication promptly by calling ahead to a doctor'due south office or emergency room to get guidance.
• Consider alternatives for issue staff and participants who are at increased gamble for complications from COVID-19. Currently, older adults and persons with severe underlying health conditions are considered to be at increased hazard for astringent illness and complications from COVID-19. Event organizers can consider reassigning duties for higher-run a risk staff to take minimal contact with other persons. People in higher-risk groups should consult with their healthcare provider virtually attending large events. Consider providing refunds to event participants who are unable to attend because they are at high hazard and/or provide information on alternative viewing options.
• If possible, identify a space that can exist used to isolate staff or participants who become sick at the event. Designate a infinite for staff and participants who may go sick and cannot leave the event immediately. Work with partners, such every bit local hospitals, to create a plan for treating staff and participants who do non live nearby. If whatsoever staff fellow member or participant becomes sick at your issue, divide them from others as soon equally possible. Establish procedures to help sick staff or participants leave the result equally soon as possible. Provide them with clean, disposable facemasks to wear, if available. Work with the local public wellness department and nearby hospitals to care for those who go sick. If needed, contact emergency services for those who need emergency care. Public transportation, shared rides, and taxis should be avoided for ill persons, and disposable facemasks should exist worn by persons who are sick at all times when in a vehicle. Read more near preventing the spread of COVID-19 if someone is sick.
• Program ways to limit in-person contact for staff supporting your events. Several ways to do this include offering staff the choice to telework if they can perform their job duties off-site, using email, and conducting meetings by telephone or video conferencing. Reduce the number of staff needed such equally staggering shifts for staff who support essential functions and services during events.
• Develop flexible refund policies for participants. Create refund policies that permit participants the flexibility to stay domicile when they are sick, demand to care for ill household members, or are at high risk for complications from COVID-xix.
• Identify actions to take if you need to postpone or cancel events. Piece of work closely with local public wellness officials to assess local capacities in the area. During a COVID-19 outbreak, resources limitations among local healthcare systems and/or law enforcement can influence the decision to postpone or cancel your events. If possible, plan alternative ways for participants to enjoy the events by television, radio, or online.

Communicate about COVID-19

• Stay informed most the local COVID-nineteen situation. Get upwardly-to-engagement information about local COVID-19 activity from public wellness officials. Be aware of temporary school dismissals in your area because these may bear upon consequence staff.
• Update and distribute timely and accurate emergency communication data. Identify anybody in your concatenation of communication (for instance, result staff, participants, suppliers, vendors, and central customs partners and stakeholders) and plant systems for sharing information with them. Maintain up-to-date contact information for anybody in the chain of communication. Identify platforms, such equally a hotline, automated text messaging, and a website to assistance disseminate data. Update fundamental community partners and stakeholders regularly. Share information about how you and the emergency operations coordinator or planning team for the venues are responding to the outbreak.
• Place and address potential linguistic communication, cultural, and disability barriers associated with communicating COVID-xix information to event staff and participants. Information you share should exist hands understood by everyone attending the events. Learn more most reaching people of diverse languages and cultures by visiting: Know Your Audience. You likewise can learn more than nigh communicating to staff in a crisis at: Crisis Communications Program.

Follow-upward After a COVID-nineteen Outbreak has Ended

Remember, a COVID-nineteen outbreak could last for a long time. When public health officials determine that the outbreak has ended in your local customs, work with them to identify criteria for scaling back COVID-xix prevention actions at your events. Base the criteria on slowing of the outbreak in your local surface area. If your events were cancelled, work with your venues to reschedule your events.

Evaluate the effectiveness your emergency operations and communication plans

• Meet with the emergency operations coordinator or planning squad for your venues to discuss and annotation lessons learned. Gather feedback from issue staff, participants (if possible), customs partners, and stakeholders to improve plans. Identify any gaps in the plans and any needs yous may have for additional resources.
• Maintain and aggrandize your planning team. Await for means to expand community partnerships. Place agencies or partners needed to help y'all prepare for infectious disease outbreaks in the future and try to add them to your planning squad.
• Participate in community-wide emergency preparedness activities.

Related Outreach Materials

Infographic: Protect Yourself in Gatherings & Crowds

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Source: https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/community-events/

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