This guidance document provides nine key considerations for corrections agencies as they begin their pandemic planning process; it highlights six specialized areas that merit detailed development within agency planning documentation; and it provides a planning checklist and a pandemic plan template in the appendix.
This guidebook provides an in-depth discussion of how correctional facilities can prepare for the next respiratory pathogen pandemic. It identifies key components and elements of respiratory pathogen pandemic preparedness that confinement facilities and agencies should consider as they plan for a pandemic incident, specifically one in which infection is spread by infectious respiratory particles. The guidebook focuses on pandemic incident response, where impacts extend beyond local and state levels, requiring national and global resource allocations, however some recommendations may also apply to epidemic and smaller outbreak incidents. The document notes that the term “pandemic” refers to a worldwide “epidemic,” which, in contrast, refers to a sudden increase in cases that are above normal expectations within a population or geographic region.