Climate Change and Your Health

Air Pollution:

Washington's strategy to prepare climate change includes measures to address air quality threats by reducing current air quality problems, tracking contaminant levels, informing healthcare providers, and improving public outreach.

Washington's climate preparedness strategy includes the following measures to prevent increases health threats from worsening air quality due to climate change:

• Improve coordination and communication between regional air pollution control authorities, nongovernmental health organizations, Department of Ecology, Department of Health, and local health jurisdictions on air quality surveillance.
• Adopt standardized air health-risk communication strategies.
• Improve health information dissemination strategies.
• Increase health care provider outreach and education on air quality information sources and health implications.
• Perform integrated air quality modeling under differing climate change scenarios using local meteorology and emissions patterns.
• The state should continue to explore new methods and programs designed to alleviate air quality problems.

Extreme Heat:

Washington's strategy to prepare for climate change includes measures to address health threats from extreme heat by improving preparedness and emergency response systems. King County is also directing efforts to improve capacity to respond to extreme heat emergencies.

Washington's (and King County's) climate preparedness strategy includes the following measures to prevent increases in health impacts from extreme heat due to climate change:

• A Heat Emergency Task Forces should be convened to review emergency management planning requirements and guidelines for heat emergencies and emergency preparedness exercises.
• Conduct retrospective epidemiological analysis of human health consequences of heat waves and examine the capacity of weather prediction agencies to accurately forecast heat events with potential human consequences.
• Better prepare local communities for heat wave emergencies by developing population predictions over the next century with specific attention to the number of vulnerable groups living in areas subject to extreme heat events.
• The state should examine various means of reducing body temperature during times of heat wave emergencies, including innovative techniques that do not rely on electrical grids.
• Work with Seattle - King County Public Health, Office of Emergency Management, King County departments, hospitals and providers to integrate considerations of climate change into response protocols for related public health emergencies (e.g. extreme heat events).
• The Emergency Management Division should coordinate improvements to the state's ability to respond to heat wave emergencies. Improvements should include:
  • Enhancement of statewide public awareness of the dangers of excessive heat and ways that individuals and the public can prevent health-related problems.
  • Development of an effective statewide early warning system for heat wave emergencies in close coordination with the National Weather Service.
  • Enhancement of public health infrastructure at the local level that will enable public health organizations to assume the role of Incident Command during heat wave events and to assure effective coordination with state and federal resources under National Incident Management guidelines.
  • Improved collaboration among municipal agencies, hospitals, public safety, emergency medical services, industry and business, nongovernmental organizations, and others.
  • Establishment of standards for public cooling centers for those without access to air conditioning.
  • Planning for response to extreme heat events accompanied by blackouts or power shortages.
  • Plans for providing transportation to at-risk persons to cooling centers or to triage and/or health care facilities.
  • A comprehensive system of training and exercises that enhances interagency coordination, that finds areas for plan improvement, and that revises the plan accordingly.

Infectious Disease:

Washington's strategy to prepare for climate change includes measures to increase the overall efficiency and sensitivity of their current surveillance systems to monitor and respond to disease events. King County's plan includes measures to research infectious disease threat and improve response protocols.

Washington's climate preparedness strategy includes the following measures to prevent increases in the spread of infectious diseases due to climate change:

• The Department of Health (DOH) should increase the overall efficiency and sensitivity of the current surveillance systems to monitor and respond to disease events.
  • Revise mandate laboratory reporting requirements to enhance public health investigation and follow-up on emerging disease trends.
  • Require electronic reporting to DOH of all notifiable conditions.
  • Develop web-based training modules on notifiable conditions and reporting for healthcare providers, laboratories, veterinarians, and local health jurisdictions.
• Conduct new laboratory and animal model research into the impact of temperature and humidity on pathogenesis of disease.
• Incorporate climate parameters into standard Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, or Recovered (SEIR) modeling efforts on infectious disease.
• Identify the most vulnerable populations by improving Washington's demographic tracking programs to map major population immigrations and associated disease risks at their source country.
• Explore the use of remote sensing and vegetation change to direct vector-borne disease investigation.

King County's climate preparedness strategy includes the following measures to prevent increases in the spread of infectious diseases due to climate change:

• Seattle -- King County Public Health will convene an internal departmental group to increase understanding about climate change impacts to public health. This departmental group should include the areas of emergency preparedness, community health, and animal-borne disease, at a minimum.
• Work with the King County Office of Emergency Management, hospitals, and providers to develop response protocols for anticipated climate change impacts (e.g., West Nile virus outbreak).

Drought:

Washington's strategy to prepare for climate change includes measures that focus on ensuring adequate drinking water resources and fire protections in areas likely to be affected by drought and improving drought forecasting capability. King County's strategy includes a measure to develop emergency response protocols for events like droughts.

• Ensure adequate drinking water resources and fire protections are addressed in areas likely to be affected by drought.
• Fund the drought preparedness and emergency water supply project accounts and modify the utilization requirements therein.
• Create appropriate statewide drought management strategies that account for evolving drought risks in a warmer climate.
• Remove the 10 percent allocation cap for non-agriculture uses for emergency drought relief.
• Improve drought-forecasting capability.

Flooding:

Washington's strategy to prepare for climate change includes a measure to research flood threats over various timeframes. King County's plan includes specific measures to incorporate climate change impacts into floodplain management programs and improve storm water and wastewater systems to prevent exposures to toxic and bacterial contaminants.

King County's climate preparedness strategy includes the following measures to prevent the health impacts from increased flooding due to climate change:

• Incorporate climate change impacts into the King County River and Floodplain Management Program, as guided by the King County Flood Hazard Management Plan and related implementation activities.
• Continue to collaborate with flood hazard management, storm water and wastewater planner in the Department of Natural Resources and Parks to minimize exposure to toxics in water address the health implications of flooding (e.g. commingling of storm water and wastewater) and ensure that the region has proper sanitation, proper disposal of waste and toxics, and clean water into the future.

Extreme Weather:

Washington's climate preparedness strategy includes measures to protect public health from the increasing threat of extreme heat caused by climate change.