A national report says New Hampshire has made progress toward building and strengthening its abilities to prepare for a public health emergency.
Being prepared to prevent, respond to, and recover from all types of public health threats, such as disease outbreaks, chemical releases, or natural disasters, requires that public health departments improve and maintain their capabilities in surveillance and epidemiology, laboratories, and response readiness.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says New Hampshire's Public Health Laboratories has demonstrated capabilities for responding if the public is exposed to chemical agents. The state Health Department's incident management team also reported for duty in 20 minutes in 2012 during a drill when the goal was within 60 minutes.