Named "TOPOFF 3" for top state and national officials, the drill will simulate a bioterror attack in New Jersey's Union County, the ripples of which will quickly spread. At the same time, the $16 million exercise will simulate an attack involving fake chemical weapons in New London, Conn.
The drills will be monitored by top U.S. Homeland Security officials from a command center in Washington, as well as regional centers in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Although no real weapons or bio-agents will be used, officials will respond as if it's the real thing: flooding the area with investigators and first responders in haz-mat suits, dispatching fleets of ambulances to hospitals across the state, and dealing with throngs of "victims" piling up outside emergency rooms.
More than 8,500 people participated in similar exercises in Seattle and Chicago in 2003 that simulated a dirty bomb explosion and a bioterror attack. The first round, in May 2000, was in Denver and New Hampshire.
All told, more than 10,000 people will participate in this week's drill, including exercises that will involve officials in Canada and England as well as the United States.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey stressed that the latest exercise should not alarm the public. The state's health commissioner, Fred M. Jacobs, is playing along but dealing with the drill as he would if a real attack happened.
The exact biological agent to be used in the fake attack has not been announced in advance; investigators responding to the incident scene- the campus of Kean University — will have to identify the substances once they get there, just as they would have to do in real life.
From there, they'll have to take appropriate steps including sealing off the immediate area, getting those exposed or already ill to hospitals, and preserving evidence necessary to determine who dispersed the deadly substance.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the drill will shift to local hospitals, where hundreds if not thousands of mock "patients" will show up in various degrees of medical crisis. Some will be treated in emergency rooms and admitted; others might undergo triage and outdoor decontamination in parking lots, depending on what officials deem appropriate for the situation.
In New Jersey, all 21 counties and 82 hospitals have roles to play, as do state police, hazardous materials teams, emergency management personnel, and police, fire and emergency responders. A virtual television news network will help officials test how they would get information to the public during a crisis.
