What would happen if the bird flu or some other potentially deadly virus struck Arizona schools?

Students from the School of Health Management and Policy at Arizona State University helped design an important exercise to test the ASU pandemic preparedness plan in collaboration with the ASU Decision Theater to help answer this important question.  Most public health experts are concerned about the likelihood of a pandemic of avian influenza and organizations at all levels of government are creating plans for meeting the needs of the community during such a crisis.

The Decision Theater is a world class facility that supports complex modeling and collaborative decision making in a multimedia environment, including seven floor-to-ceiling video screens and other 360-degree technology to immerse the participants in an exercise that's as close to real life as possible without putting lives in danger.  Through a series of a realistic TV news reports and multimedia presentations, the exercise will focus on whether schools should be closed, activities canceled and other actions taken in the event of an outbreak. This exercise is a joint effort between the Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona State University, the Arizona Department of Education and several county health departments, including Maricopa and Pinal.  ASU hopes that this exercise may serve as a national model for testing emergency response plans to global biological threats.

To hear more about this exercise, including up-to-the-minute coverage and interviews, follow the live blog