Experience and practice of the Emergency Operations Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: a case study of response to the H7N9 outbreak

Background Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a place to provide response to public health emergencies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)’s EOC was officially established in 2016, which has been the core department for the public health emergencies and risk response. In recent years, we have been continuously improving the function of EOC through many incidents. In the study, we hope to share the construction status, operation management experience of China CDC’s EOC and the response process in the human avian influenza A (H7N9) outbreak. Main text The China CDC’s EOC mainly focus on building the five core elements including sites/places and facilities, information and data, plans and procedures, training and exercises, and logistics. Based on summarizing previous emergency response, the China CDC’s EOC established its own incident management and the standardized response procedures. The event-specific data, context-specific data and event management data could be obtained through various source. The logistics department of the EOC also provides comprehensive support. The well-trained staff is another necessary conditions for its operation. Through sharing the response process of H7N9 outbreak, it further explains the EOC’s functions in the five phases of outbreak response, such as the formulation of the incident response framework, monitoring, personnel dispatch and resource mobilization. Conclusions The EOC contributes to faster and more efficient responses during emergencies which enable a greater reduction in morbidity and mortality. Compared with the traditional incident response process, under the command and coordination of China CDC’s EOC, each group involved in the response has a clearer goal, responsibilities and tasks at each stage. Meanwhile, each group also gave full play to its own expertise and advantages. As a whole, incident response tended to be more specialized and precise, which generally improves the efficiency of incident response. However, different countries and regions have different response processes to the events. We still suggested that appropriate emergency operation plan should be made according to the complexity of incident response in the region when constructing response mechanism, through our experience. And the China CDC’s EOC is still at growing and groping phase. Graphic abstract

Experience and practice of the Emergency Operations Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: A case study of response to the H7N9 outbreak

Background: Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a place to provide response to public health emergencies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)’s EOC was officially established in 2016, which has been the core department for the public health emergencies and risk response. In recent years, we have been continuously improving the function of EOC through many incidents. In the study, we hope to share the construction status, operation management experience of China CDC’s EOC and the response process in the human avian influenza A (H7N9) outbreak.Main text: The China CDC’s EOC mainly focus on building the five core elements including sites/places and facilities, information and data, plans and procedures, training and exercises, and logistics. Based on summarizing previous emergency response, the China CDC’s EOC established its own incident management and the standardized response procedures. The event-specific data, context-specific data and event management data could be obtained through various source. The logistics department of the EOC also provides comprehensive support. And that the well-trained staff is another necessary conditions for its operation. Through sharing the response process of H7N9 outbreak, it further explains the EOC’s functions in the five phases of outbreak response, such as the formulation of the incident response framework, monitoring, personnel dispatch and resource mobilization.Conclusions: The EOC contributes to faster and more efficient responses during emergencies which enable a greater reduction in morbidity and mortality. Compared with the traditional incident response process, under the command and coordination of China CDC’s EOC, each group involved in the response has a clearer goal, responsibilities and tasks at each stage. Meanwhile, each group also gave full play to its own expertise and advantages. As a whole, incident response tended to be more specialized and precise, which generally improves the efficiency of incident response. However, different countries and regions have different response processes to the events. We still suggested that appropriate emergency operation plan should be made according to the complexity of incident response in the region when constructing response mechanism, through our experience. And the China CDC’s EOC is still at growing and groping phase.

Experience and practice of the Emergency Operations Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention: a case study of response to the H7N9 outbreak

Background: Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is a place to provide response to public health emergencies. Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC)’s EOC was officially established in 2016, which has been the core department for the public health emergencies and risk response. In recent years, we have been continuously improving the function of EOC through many incidents. In the study, we hope to share the construction status, operation management experience and the response process in the H7N9 outbreak.Main text: The China CDC’s EOC mainly focus on building the five core elements including sites/places and facilities, information and data, plans and procedures, training and exercises, and logistics. Based on summarizing previous emergency response, the China CDC’s EOC established its own incident management and the standardized response procedures. The event-specific data, context-specific data and event management data could be obtained through various source.. The logistics department of the EOC also provides comprehensive support. And that the well-trained staff is another necessary conditions for its operation. Through sharing the response process of H7N9 outbreak, it further explains the EOC’s functions in the five phases of outbreak response, such as the formulation of the incident response framework, monitoring, personnel dispatch and resource mobilization.Conclusions: The EOC contributes to faster and more efficient responses during emergencies which enable a greater reduction in morbidity and mortality. Compared with the traditional incident response process, under the command and coordination of China CDC’s EOC, each group involved in the response has a clearer goal, responsibilities and tasks at each stage. Meanwhile, each group also gave full play to its own expertise and advantages. As a whole, incident response tended to be more specialized and precise, which generally improves the efficiency of incident response. However, different countries and regions have different response processes to the events. We still suggested that appropriate emergency operation plan should be made according to the complexity of incident response in the region when constructing response mechanism, through our experience. And the China CDC’s EOC is still at growing and groping phase.

Identifying Risk Factors Of A(H7N9) Outbreak by Wavelet Analysis and Generalized Estimating Equation

Five epidemic waves of A(H7N9) occurred between March 2013 and May 2017 in China. However, the potential risk factors associated with disease transmission remain unclear. To address the spatial–temporal distribution of the reported A(H7N9) human cases (hereafter referred to as “cases”), statistical description and geographic information systems were employed. Based on long-term observation data, we found that males predominated the majority of A(H7N9)-infected individuals and that most males were middle-aged or elderly. Further, wavelet analysis was used to detect the variation in time-frequency between A(H7N9) cases and meteorological factors. Moreover, we formulated a Poisson regression model to explore the relationship among A(H7N9) cases and meteorological factors, the number of live poultry markets (LPMs), population density and media coverage. The main results revealed that the impact factors of A(H7N9) prevalence are manifold, and the number of LPMs has a significantly positive effect on reported A(H7N9) cases, while the effect of weekly average temperature is significantly negative. This confirms that the interaction of multiple factors could result in a serious A(H7N9) outbreak. Therefore, public health departments adopting the corresponding management measures based on both the number of LPMs and the forecast of meteorological conditions are crucial for mitigating A(H7N9) prevalence.