KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - Drill Held to Deal with Potential H1N1 Outbreak in Jail
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Officials from various agencies held a drill Monday to theorize how they'd deal with an H1N1 outbreak at the Washoe County Jail.
About 40 people from the Washoe County Sheriff's Office, the Washoe District Health Department, Prison Health Services and the courts took part. They worked together to come up with the best way to contain an outbreak at the jail.
They dealt with hypothetical situations ranging from what to do if half the jail staff were out sick, to how to deal with the entire jail population becoming infected.
It's by walking through the scenarios that they found the answers.
"We all know there are factors we can't control, like how many arrests, who's carrying it with them in the door," Captain Steve Kelly said. "We worked through them all with the tabletop and now we're ready to deal with it."
They also used lessons learned from a small outbreak of the H1N1 flu about a month ago. It was then they learned that the first move is to quarantine the housing unit and identify those exposed.
And Monday they worked on protecting not just inmates and employees, but family members at home.
They say it's the same plan they'll use for any contagious outbreak.
