The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is leading a series of functional exercises and drills between September 23 and 26, 2019.
This exercise is part of APHIS’s overall African swine fever preparedness effort. APHIS notified the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) about this exercise in advance. OIE shared this information with its member countries and posted a notice on their website.
APHIS staff, as well as representatives from 14 states and the swine industry, will participate in the exercises. They are designed to be unique activities targeting key areas of ASF response and mitigation.
The general focus of each day’s play is:
- Day 1, September 23 – Conducting a foreign animal disease investigation and subsequent coordination and engagement of the National Veterinary Services Laboratory’s Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and the appropriate laboratories in the National Animal Health Laboratory Network.
- Day 2, September 24 – Responding to and supporting a state, regional, or national movement standstill depending upon swine populations infected.
- Day 3, September 25 – Implementing the planning and resource coordination associated with depopulating and disposing of infected and exposed swine.
- Day 4, September 26 – Implementing a system to allow continuity of business for non-infected operations within a Control Area.