Designing and conducting tabletop exercises to assess public health preparedness for manmade and naturally occurring biological threats

Table 1 Descriptive Characteristics of Participating Health Departments

Region	Size of Population*	Agent Tested	Length in Hours	Facilitator Involvement**	Number of Participants
Midwest	medium	novel	8.0	moderate	22
Midwest	large	pandemic flu	6.0	active	21
Midwest	medium	smallpox	3.0	moderate	17
Northeast	large	smallpox	2.0	limited	5
Northeast	medium	plague	3.0	limited	20
Northeast	medium	smallpox	3.0	active	8
Northeast	medium	anthrax	3.5	active	8
Northeast	small	smallpox	3.0	limited	12
South	medium	smallpox	5.0	moderate	12
South	medium	pandemic flu	6.0	moderate	23
South	medium	pandemic flu	6.0	active	44
South	medium	smallpox	3.0	moderate	15
South	medium	smallpox	5.0	limited	14
South	medium	botulism	6.0	moderate	23
South	medium	botulism	5.0	moderate	13
South	large	botulism	2.0	moderate	18
South	small	pandemic flu	5.0	active	16
South	small	novel	8.0	moderate	20
South	large	plague	3.0	limited	13
South	small	novel	8.0	moderate	11
South	small	botulism	5.0	limited	26
South	large	smallpox	8.0	moderate	15
West	medium	smallpox	4.0	active	15
West	medium	smallpox	4.0	active	16
West	small	smallpox	4.0	active	15
West	medium	smallpox	4.0	active	17
West	medium	smallpox	4.0	active	15
West	large	smallpox	4.0	active	11
West	large	smallpox	4.0	active	23
West	medium	plague	3.0	limited	11
West	large	smallpox	4.0	active	14

*< 100,000 = small, 100,000–1,000,000 = medium, > 1,000,000 = large;
**Mild involvement-most of exercises was role played by participants, with very little intervention or direction from facilitators; Moderate involvement-most of exercises was role played or issue discussion, with the facilitator inserting additional probes and ensuring the discussion stayed on track; Active-most of the exercise was more discussion based, with facilitator asking questions or identifying issues that were subsequently discussed.

ISSN: 1471-2458