Q&A
Council Member Marmorato inquires about H5N1 flu and Ebola exposure
1:36:20
ยท
3 min
Council Member Kristy Marmorato questions Dr. Michelle Morse about the H5N1 flu outbreak's impact on live poultry markets in her district and the suspected Ebola exposure case. Dr. Morse provides information on DOHMH's role in supporting affected workers and addresses concerns about patient privacy breaches.
- DOHMH focuses on health concerns for workers in affected markets, while other agencies handle business-related issues.
- Information for workers and the public about H5N1 is available on the DOHMH website.
- Dr. Morse shares concerns about patient privacy violations in the Ebola case but clarifies that investigating the leak is outside DOHMH's jurisdiction.
Kristy Marmorato
1:36:20
Thank you, chair.
1:36:21
So I just wanted to talk about the h five n one flu.
1:36:24
I have a lot of live poultry markets in my district and I know that they were shut down.
1:36:29
Mhmm.
1:36:29
Are you aware of any financial assistance or educational assistance that the city is gonna provide not only to the business owners but to the employees who may lose wages as well?
Dr. Michelle Morse
1:36:40
That's a thank you so much for that question.
1:36:42
In the New York City Health Department, our role really is to partner with the state health department and to support education, outreach, and any health concerns for the workers in those markets that were exposed.
1:36:55
So we're much more focused on kind of their health than the business side.
1:37:00
I'm not sure if my colleagues in the small business services, the SBS agency would be able to be more helpful or the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets may perhaps, but we do, our realm is really the health of the workers.
Kristy Marmorato
1:37:17
Okay, do you have stuff like on a website that I can have the employees look up, or?
Dr. Michelle Morse
1:37:22
Yes, we do in fact.
1:37:23
We have a h five n one page.
1:37:25
If you go to nyc.gov/health, you'll be able to find our h five n one page, and it does have information for the general public.
1:37:34
It also has information for workers in live bird markets about what they should do to protect themselves.
Kristy Marmorato
1:37:40
Great, great.
1:37:41
And also I just wanted to touch on the suspected Ebola exposure.
1:37:47
I was really disappointed to see that both individuals, both patients' pictures were in the media, and I was kind of a little heartbroken by that, and I felt like there was some type of HIPAA violation happening.
1:37:58
I do have a health care career of twenty four years, so I know there there was some kind of a disconnect there.
1:38:04
I understand that there are multiple agencies involved.
1:38:08
Will you, the Department of Health, do an investigation to see whether or not something came from, not just your end, to see how this was leaked to the media and how we can do a better job going forward?
1:38:20
I will share I
Dr. Michelle Morse
1:38:22
share your concern about the privacy of the two individuals involved.
1:38:27
Again, I
Sudha Reddy
1:38:27
I
Dr. Michelle Morse
1:38:28
as a practicing physician myself, I can't imagine, you know, being in the middle of feeling sick and ill and then kind of having your your privacy really taken away in the way that it was.
1:38:38
So I am also very concerned.
1:38:41
It's not really within our realm or powers to do that kind of investigation, but we do have planning activities with our partners at NYSIM, FDNY, Health and Hospitals, as well as the partners at CityMD in process to really, you know, again make sure that our coordination, at least within our realm on the health side, is as strong and as clear as it can be.
1:39:06
But I don't believe it's within our realm to do that kind of investigation.
Kristy Marmorato
1:39:10
Okay.
1:39:11
Would this have been like between you communicating with one of the other agencies, is it like something that would have been like seen online or some through some type of app?
1:39:22
Do you think it was like leaked in that sense or?
Dr. Michelle Morse
1:39:25
That is not my understanding of what happened.
Kristy Marmorato
1:39:27
Okay.
1:39:28
Alright.
1:39:28
Thank you so much.
1:39:29
Thank you chair.