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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
Score: -4
(2/5/6)
Santa Barbara County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
Is the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Prepared for the Next Epidemic?
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 6 findings
F1
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not developed proactive pathogen- specific risk assessments based upon evidence-based risk analysis.
F2
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not developed proactive pathogen- specific disaster plans based upon evidence-based risk analysis.
F3
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not employed current, more comprehensive software for the early detection of potential epidemic risks.
F4
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has the obligation to ensure wastewater testing is carried out throughout Santa Barbara County but is not currently fulfilling its responsibility.
F5
Even though bioterrorism is a growing threat, Santa Barbara County has not established effective channels of communication with federal, regional, and other stakeholders to learn of and apply threat assessment at the local level.
F6
The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not established a process to assure effective communication between regional healthcare providers regarding local epidemic risks. The 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury recommends that:
Recommendations 7
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R1The Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to perform ongoing evidence-based assessments to determine the potential pathogens that pose the highest risk in Santa Barbara County. Risk assessments should be updated every three months, or more frequently if new threats are identified.
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R2The Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to develop disaster plans specific to each of the pathogens identified by risk assessment to be at highest risk of causing an epidemic. Disaster plans should be updated every three months, or more frequently if new threats are identified.
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R3The Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to identify, acquire, and implement current, more comprehensive software for the early detection of potential epidemic risks.
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R4The Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to ensure that sufficient wastewater testing sites are operational in Santa Barbara County, to include at least the major population centers.
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R5The Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to seek to institute regular communication with relevant federal agencies, including Vandenberg Space Force Base, regarding the current threat of bioterrorism, and incorporate this information into risk analysis and disaster planning.
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R6aThe Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to establish a community task force for epidemic preparedness by instituting regular meetings and inviting participation by health care providers within Santa Barbara County, as well as public health representatives from surrounding counties, the county jails, Vandenberg Space Force Base, and the Federal Correctional Complex, Lompoc.
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R6bThe Board of Supervisors require the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department to ensure that the recommendations of the community task force be documented, shared, and acted upon by responsible entities within Santa Barbara County.
Conclusions 35
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CL1The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not established a process to assure effective communication between regional healthcare providers regarding local epidemic risks. The 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury recommends that:
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CL2The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not developed proactive pathogen- specific disaster plans based upon evidence-based risk analysis.
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CL3The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not employed current, more comprehensive software for the early detection of potential epidemic risks.
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CL4The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has the obligation to ensure wastewater testing is carried out throughout Santa Barbara County but is not currently fulfilling its responsibility.
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CL5The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department has not developed proactive pathogen- specific risk assessments based upon evidence-based risk analysis.
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CL6Even though bioterrorism is a growing threat, Santa Barbara County has not established effective channels of communication with federal, regional, and other stakeholders to learn of and apply threat assessment at the local level.
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CL7Rivers, Caitlin. Crisis Averted: The Hidden Science of Fighting Outbreaks. New York: Viking Press, 2024.
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CL8Pringle, Eleanor. “Disease forecasters are convinced there’s a 27% chance of another COVID-like pandemic within 10 years—but experts believe there’s a silver bullet.” Fortune Magazine, April 18, 2023. https://fortune.com/well/2023/04/18/disease-forecasters-predict- new-covid-like-pandemic-within-10-years/
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CL9Sinha, Michael S., Wendy E. Parmet, and Gregg S. Gonsalves. “Déjà Vu All Over Again— Refusing to Learn the Lessons of Covid-19.” New England Journal of Medicine 391, no. 6 (2024): 481–483. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2406427
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CL10Baker, Rachel E., et al. “Infectious Disease in an Era of Global Change.” Nature Reviews Microbiology 20, no. 4 (2022): 193–205. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00639-z
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CL11Lim, Poh Lian. “Travel and the Globalization of Emerging Infections." Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 108, no. 6 (2014): 309–310. https://doi.org/10.1093/trstmh/tru051
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CL12McMichael, Celia. “Climate Change-Related Migration and Infectious Disease.” Virulence 6, no. 6 (2015): 548–553. https://doi.org/10.1080/21505594.2015.1021539
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CL13Casadevall, Arturo, and Michael J. Imperiale. “Risks and Benefits of Gain-of-Function Experiments with Pathogens of Pandemic Potential, Such as Influenza Virus: A Call for a Science-Based Discussion.” mBio 5, no. 4 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01730-14
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CL14Shin, Gee Yen, and Rohini Manuel. “Covid-19 Laboratory Leak Hypothesis: How a Few Kept the Many from Considering Alternative Possibilities.” BMJ 374, no. 2003 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2003
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CL15Linder, Ann, and Dale Jamieson. "Blind Spots in Biodefense." Science 379, no. 6633 (2023):
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CL16Rathish, Balram., et al. “Comprehensive Review of Bioterrorism.” In StatPearls, StatPearls Publishing, 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34033376
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CL17Hwang, Kun. “Possible Bioterrorism by North Korea and South Korea’s Preparedness.” Infectious Chemotherapy 56, no. 3 (2024): 300–307. https://doi.org/10.3947/ic.2024.0068 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 13
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CL18Li, Ziqi, et al. “Reviewing the Progress of Infectious Disease Early Warning Systems and Planning for the Future.” BMC Public Health 24, no. 3080 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20537-2
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CL19Tran, Bach Xuan, et al. “Global Mapping of Epidemic Risk Assessment Toolkits: A Scoping Review for COVID-19 and Future Epidemics Preparedness Implications.” PLOS ONE (2022). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0272037
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CL20Shadbolt, Nigel, et al. “The Challenges of Data in Future Pandemics.” Epidemics 40, no. 100612 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2022.100612
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CL21Turtle, James, et al. “Accurate Influenza Forecasts Using Type-Specific Incidence Data for Small Geographic Units.” PLOS Computational Biology 17, no. 7 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009230
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CL22Rosenfeld, Roni, and Ryan J. Tibshirani. “Epidemic Tracking and Forecasting: Lessons Learned from a Tumultuous Year.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 51 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2111456118
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CL23El Morr, Christo, et al. “AI-Based Epidemic and Pandemic Early Warning Systems: A Systematic Scoping Review.” Health Informatics Journal 30, no. 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1177/14604582241275844
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CL24MacIntyre, Chandini Raina, et al. “Artificial Intelligence in Public Health: The Potential of Epidemic Early Warning Systems.” Journal of International Medical Research 51, no. 3 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1177/03000605231159335
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CL25Singh, Surabhi, et al. “A Narrative Review of Wastewater Surveillance: Pathogens of Concern, Applications, Detection Methods, and Challenges.” Frontiers in Public Health 12 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1445961
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CL26Mao, Kang, et al. “Biosensors for Wastewater-Based Epidemiology for Monitoring Public Health.” Water Research 191 (2021): 116787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116787
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CL27Girón-Guzmán, Inés, Gloria Sánchez, and Alba Pérez-Cataluña. "Tracking Epidemic Viruses in Wastewaters." Microbial Biotechnology 17, no. 10 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1111/1751- 7915.70020 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 14
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CL28Boehm, Alexandria B., et al. “Wastewater Concentrations of Human Influenza, Metapneumovirus, Parainfluenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Rhinovirus, and Seasonal Coronavirus Nucleic-Acids During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Surveillance Study.” Lancet Microbe 4 (2023): e340–e348. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00386-X
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CL29Gao, Tilei, Tiebing Li, and Peng Xu. “Risk Analysis and Assessment Method for Infectious Diseases Based on Information Entropy Theory.” Scientific Reports 14 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-67783-3
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CL30Dean, Brandon, et al. “Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's Health Hazard Assessment: Putting the 'Health' into Hazard Assessment.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 19, Suppl 2 (2013): S84–S90. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0b013e3182928e63
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CL31World Health Organization. Strategic Toolkit for Assessing Risks: A Comprehensive Toolkit for All-Hazards Health Emergency Risk Assessment. Geneva: World Health Organization,
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CL32U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Human Health Risk Assessment.” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Last modified January 31, 2025. https://www.epa.gov/risk/human-health-risk-assessment
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CL33Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Infection Control Assessment and Response (ICAR) Tool for General Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Across Settings.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published April 16, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/healthcare-associated-infections/php/toolkit/icar.html
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CL34World Health Organization. WHO Guidance on Preparing for National Response to Health Emergencies and Disasters. Geneva: World Health Organization. Published December 20,
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CL35Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Bioterrorism Overview.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published February 28, 2006. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/44106 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 15
Agency Responses 1
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.