We argued last week in of all places the paper of the capital of New York that pandemic planning has to be local in essence, by which we meant that the mistrust of government and healthcare workers can only be a focus on listening to the community.
So, today, the entire New York government has responded by implementing the Caplan & McGee plan, with the New York Times lead Region story as an exceptional description of what is to happen: “Albany’s Plan for Flu Epidemic Leaves Big Decisions to Localities.”
Already the state department of health is being hammered for their decision. But they are right. The way to cultivate trust and make an effective response to looming pandemic is to build the local institutions that people will depend on. New York is ahead of the curve on this one. But what isn’t here – or at least not that I found – is any requirement of town hall meetings – and preferably the mandatory involvement of bioethics in those.