It’s no surprise that the coronavirus pandemic has upended many lines of work around the world this year. COVID-19 has driven many of us into our homes and onto our computers as workplaces transition into a work-from-home model to keep employees safe and slow the spread of the virus.
LSU NCBRT/ACE has been hard at work converting face-to-face deliveries to a Zoom format, as well as developing new resources that specifically address the COVID-19 pandemic in order to continue to meet the training needs of the nation’s responders.
LSU NCBRT/ACE developed a new course, Biological Incidents Awareness: Coronavirus Disease 2019. The seven-hour, DHS-certified course provides a brief overview of COVID-19, including specific information about symptoms, transmission, personal protective measures, and scene control. The course is modeled after an existing, more general Biological Incidents Awareness course that LSU NCBRT/ACE has been delivering for years.
Since its development in 2020, Biological Incidents Awareness: Coronavirus 2019 has been delivered to over five hundred emergency responders around the country.
Additionally, LSU NCBRT/ACE has developed job aids, webinars and videos that address specific challenges responders may face when on the job during the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include proper donning and doffing techniques for PPE, handling potentially contaminated evidence, and distance and shielding methods for a variety of scenarios.
All of LSU NCBRT/ACE’s COVID-19 videos and webinars are available in both English and Spanish in order to reach as many responders as possible. LSU NCBRT/ACE personnel are also advising the Louisiana Office of Public Health on its COVID-19 vaccine distribution planning process.
“LSU NCBRT/ACE’s dedication to service and strong work ethic combined with creative thinking was exactly what was needed for this project,” said OPH Immunization Program Director Stacy Hall. “They have worked closely with OPH on the development of its initial COVID-19 Vaccination Program Interim Playbook for Jurisdiction Operations, a central document that each state put together to layout its operational, tactical and communicative vaccination plans.”
LSU NCBRT/ACE conducted two large-scale virtual tabletop exercises with members from LDH, OPH, the Louisiana National Guard, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness and other important stakeholders to walk through scenarios that could hinder the vaccination effort, such as hurricanes and power outages, transportation issues and other unexpected challenges. These exercises also helped identify the roles of each office in the distribution process and served as an opportunity for different departments to make or strengthen connections.
In his visit to the White House in December 2020, Governor John Bel Edwards specifically mentioned LSU NCBRT/ACE’s tabletop exercises as an important tool for the state’s collaborative process of distribution and immunization, noting that the exercises helped the state identify and address logistical or communication gaps in the process.