Maryland Scored Among Top States for Ebola and Other Outbreaks Preparation

With the Ebola death rate climbing and scares across the country, it raises an important question: How prepared is your state to handle an outbreak?

A report from Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that Maryland tied in first place for not just best prevention, but detection, diagnosis, and response to outbreaks as well.

Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases used 10 indicators to find how prepared each state and Washington, D.C. are for outbreaks like Ebola, Enterovirus, and Superbugs. One point was awarded for each indicator that was achieved.

Maryland received eight out of 10 points which ties with Virginia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Vermont.

The evaluated indicators include:

1. Public Health Funding
2. Incident and Information Management
3. Childhood Vaccinations
4. Flu Vaccination Rates
5. Climate Change and Infectious Disease
6. Healthcare-Associated Infection Control
7. Healthcare-Associated Infection Control
8. Public Health Laboratories
9. HIV/AIDS Surveillance
10. Food Safety

Maryland received a point in each of the categories except numbers four and six. Arkansas received the lowest score, only achieving two out of the 10 indicators. Find out how other states ranked on the interactive map.

“Over the last decade, we have seen dramatic improvements in state and local capacity to respond to outbreaks and emergencies. But we also saw during the recent Ebola outbreak that some of the most basic infectious disease control policies failed when tested,” Executive Director of TFAH Jeffrey Levi, PhD, said in the report. “The Ebola outbreak is a reminder that we cannot afford to let our guard down.

For the full report visit Trust For America’s Health.

Image via Shutterstock

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