DUBLIN, Calif. (KRON) – Bay Area emergency management personnel are closely tracking the spread of the coronavirus bracing for it to become a potential pandemic.
The Alameda County Sheriff is also the emergency manager for California’s region which covers the entire Bay Area and stretches all along the coast from Monterey County to the Oregon border.
Staff is monitoring what’s going on with the coronavirus both locally and globally.
They say they are ready at a moment’s notice to activate.
“It would all depend on how robust and how big this thing gets,” Sergeant Ray Kelly said.
Monitors on the wall show the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.
“We’ve dealt with SARS, the swine flu, the H1N1 and different influenza’s over the last decade. So we have always been involved in that role in regards to public health but the coronavirus is definitely something new and unique and it’s, to understand what’s going on, we’re actually monitoring the situation globally and then as we filter down into our country, the state and then within our region and our county,” Kelly said.
Kelly says they’ve used this room for other major bay area disasters, like wildfires and earthquakes.
If and when they need to huddle up here to coordinate a response to the fallout of a potential coronavirus pandemic….public health agencies would play a major role.
“The Red Cross would probably be very important if we had to set up temporary hospitals or temporary shelters to quarantine people,” Kelly said.
From the situation analysis room, they can monitor traffic and weather conditions.
In the joint information room, they are keeping an eye on national local and social media, taking in updates and snuffing out internet rumors.
The last time this room was activated was during the public safety power shutoffs last year.
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