The H1N1
Experience
During the initial H1N1 influenza outbreak
in April 2009, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department
web site went down due to large numbers of web hits caused
by the high demand for information. The Public Information
Officer (PIO) and Information Systems Department (ISD) staff
re-directed viewers to an emergency dark site set up on Google
Sites.
Chronology of Events: How the Emergency
Dark Site
was Activated
Friday, April 24th
Reports of H1N1 illness in Mexico
and the United States were circulating on the web and news.
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department partially
activated its Department Emergency Operations Center (DEOC)
and monitored the situation throughout the weekend.
Monday, April 27th
The H1N1 situation continued to escalate
and the DEOC was fully activated and staffed.
Tuesday, April 28th
H1N1 information from the CDC was
posted and continually updated on the Santa Clara County Public
Health Department’s web site
At 11:00 PM, a local school district
announced closure of a high school due to the first confirmed
H1N1 case in Santa Clara County – a high school student.
That same night, results of a special
election were posted to the County’s overall public
portal web site
Wednesday, April 29th
Early Wednesday morning, the County
public portal and the link to the Public Health Department
web site received 37,000 hits in two hours. Typical traffic
is 2,000 hits in two hours.
At 11:00 am on Wednesday morning,
the County web site went down from the overload of hits. Residents
were no longer able to find information about the school closure,
H1N1, or the special election results on the County web site
At the same time, news about the H1N1
flu was exploding across the Internet, on TV and through social
media networks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) was releasing new information hourly.
A web site that could handle rapidly
changing information was needed.....and quickly.
Late in the afternoon on Wednesday,
the Joint Information Center (JIC) was activated and additional
risk communication staff began to assist with H1N1 communications
efforts.
Thursday, April 30th
The Santa Clara County Chief Information
Officer (CIO) and Information Systems Department (ISD) staff,
working with a team of Stanford University students and their
class professor, re-directed web traffic from the County public
portal to an emergency site built on Google Sites.
This was the first time that Santa
Clara county prepared and activated an emergency dark site
to manage and provide critical emergency information.
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