Item 26 - Adoption of the City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan

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City of Santa Ana Emergency Operations Plan Part I Basic Plan Humans become infected with the virus when they inhale aerosol particles contaminated from deer mouse fecal pellets (droppings) and urine. The two strains of Hantaviruses encountered locally are the Sin Nombre Virus (SNV) and El Morro Canyon Virus. Although these strains have been found in local deer mice, no residents have been diagnosed with Hantavirus in Orange County. The deer mouse is widely distributed in neighborhoods of Orange County that border natural areas. Novel Emerging Pathogens With advances in travel, diseases can quickly spread throughout the world. Orange County, with its diverse population and large tourism industry, is particularly at risk for importation of diseases that may previously have been localized to other countries or continents. These diseases pose a significant hazard if they are highly transmissible from person to person and if they have significant morbidity or mortality. In the past decade, agencies have prepared to respond to multiple such diseases such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), avian influenza H5N1, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and the Ebola Virus. The threat of a novel or emerging communicable disease appearing locally, with little or no immunity in the population and no known vaccinations or effective medical treatment methods, can have a devastating effect, spreading rapidly through the population with little treatment available. In December 2019, health officials in Wuhan, China began to observe an unusual number of severe cases of pneumonia with no obvious cause. These were identified as a novel form of coronavirus (a family of viruses that attack the body's respiratory system), specifically identified as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and became familiarly known as COVID-19, short for Coronavirus Disease 2019. Symptoms of COVID-19 vary but primarily include fever, cough, fatigue, difficulty breathing and loss of taste or smell. The disease is primarily spread when an infected person breathes, talks, coughs, sneezes, or otherwise expels infected droplets of moisture from their respiratory system and these droplets are inhaled by the next person. Most people who contract the virus (approximately 80%) experience mild to moderate symptoms, up to a mild case of pneumonia. Others, particularly older patients or those with pre-existing medical conditions, experience severe symptoms requiring hospitalization and intensive medical care, and approximately 2-3% of patients do not survive the disease. The World Health Organization declared COVID a worldwide pandemic on March 11, 2020. The disease spread exponentially throughout the world, reaching all countries and populations in various waves and surges. Within one year of that date, there were more than 118 million cases and 2.6 million deaths worldwide; 29 million cases and 530,000 deaths in the United States; 3.6 million cases and 54,000 deaths in California; 248,000 cases and 4,300 deaths in Orange County; and 44,000 cases and 770 deaths in the City of Santa Ana. This makes COVID- 19 one of the longest and deadliest natural disasters in modern history, both locally and throughout the world. COVID-19 cases overwhelmed hospitals and healthcare systems throughout the world, resulting in overcrowded hospitals and rationing of medical supplies and medical care. In response to the spread of the disease, health and government officials issued orders to close or significantly reduce the capacity of schools and businesses, restrict public gatherings or travel, to stay at home except for essential needs, and requiring persons to wear face coverings to prevent the sharing of exhaled air. These orders resulted in significant economic hardship and loss of jobs as businesses closed and commercial activity slowed, and in many cases were met with civil disobedience or other refusal to cooperate with public health measures. 94