Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona on Tuesday signed the Pandemic Flu Planning Resolution. The agreement between the federal government and the state to work together to refine and exercise plans to respond to any outbreak of pandemic flu was among the results of a one-day summit in Honolulu. "It is critical that we continue to improve, update and revise our pandemic response plans so that we are as prepared as possible," Lingle says. "We appreciate Surgeon General Carmona's ongoing support of our public-health efforts in Hawaii and the valuable insight he provided during this summit. This level of cooperation and collaboration will help keep our citizens safe and secure in the event of an outbreak." The summit builds on a tabletop exercise the governor was part of in February at the Pentagon during which officials from the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services discussed the country's preparedness in responding to a pandemic outbreak originating in the Pacific. Meantime, the state's Pandemic Influenza Plan was completed in December; visit [www.hawaii.gov/health].
