No ferries if flu hits Whidbey - The Whidbey Examiner

By Sue Ellen White
For the Examiner

Access to ferries could be limited or closed in the event of a flu pandemic, according to a draft Washington State Ferries planning document.

The draft memo, which outlines employee flu prevention and operational options, states that in "areas of declared isolation/quarantine and emergency" ferry routes could be reduced, limited or canceled and that public access to ferry facilities could be limited or closed.

Ferry officials could not provide information on criteria for taking those actions but said that on Sept. 22, the governor's cabinet agencies will be meeting for a pandemic flu planning exercise.

Captain Kelly J. Mitchell, a senior port captain and one of a group issuing the WSF memo, said criteria for the ferry restrictions listed in the document have not yet been developed.

"This is a work in progress," Kelly said. "There is a big interagency plan dealing with a pandemic situation. As a state agency we will assist and make services available based on that direction."

Communities such as the San Juans and Whidbey have limited medical facilities and depend heavily on the ferries for transport to larger medical facilities and to receive everyday supplies from off-Island.

Though Mitchell stated that services have not been denied in case of need, in 1998 a dying woman, Kathleen Lee-Geist, was denied priority boarding at Anacortes as she sought to return to her home in the San Juans for the final time. Workers said she and her husband had failed to follow ferry regulations for priority loading. She had to wait two hours to board and died two days later.

Mitchell said that since that time, ferry policies have been revised.

"Washington State Ferries are not in the business of quarantine or isolation. We would work with any agency to meet the need with the service that we provide," Mitchell said.

He said, for example, that sailings could be limited if state officials feel it necessary to limit general travel due to a pandemic or if a large number of crew members were ill and unable to work. He did not address the need for transporting supplies to the Island via ferry, saying that there is a bridge over Deception Pass.

Dr. Roger Case, Island County's chief health official, said planning for an event such as pandemic flu has been going on for several years and that there is a defined chain of command and regular communication.

"We've been meeting with state police, FBI, state ferries. They are all working together in a statewide mitigation planning," he said. "The Department of Health would talk to State Department of Transportation. Their directions will come from the state Department of Health."

Case said that in the event people need off-Island medical care, they would be transported.

"They can't close highways," Case said of the ferry agency. "If [people] need hospitals here, they'll stay here. If they need to be transported, it will be business as usual, just more of it."

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