Assemblyman Todd Gloria is asking the state to determine whether the local response to the region’s deadly hepatitis A outbreak was by the book.
In a letter he released Thursday, the San Diego Democrat requests that the Legislature’s t audit committee order an examination of the outbreak that killed 20 people and sickened almost 600 others last year. The public health crisis centered on the city’s growing homeless population and spread because of lack of access to basic sanitation.
Gloria is asking for an audit to determine whether the local response, which ranged from a vaccination campaign to pressure-washing downtown sidewalks, properly “identified, contained and treated” the public health threat “in accordance with statutory requirements and recommended procedures.”
Gloria’s audit request comes as San Diego County is nearly finished compiling its own after action report on the largest hepatitis A outbreak seen in California in more than 20 years.
Neither the county’s report nor a state audit, if one is performed, are criminal investigations. However, the findings would have the power to shape future policy and current careers.
Any examination of San Diego’s hepatitis outbreak response will have a national audience with linked cases confirmed in Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky and Utah.
Findings will also reflect on national policy. San Diego County’s health department consulted regularly with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which sent several observers to San Diego. The response was also monitored by the California Department of Public Health.
Gloria’s letter is addressed to the t Legislative Audit Committee, which is scheduled to hear the request at its next regular meeting on May 16.
The committee investigates matters of statewide importance, so Gloria will have to convince the ’s that the outbreak was not merely a local concern.
In an interview Thursday, the assemblyman noted that epidemiologists linked hepatitis A cases in several other counties, including Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, to the same viral strains in San Diego County. Gloria said the declaration that it was a statewide emergency s his case that the audit is justified.
The outbreak was first identified in March 2017, and a public health emergency was not declared until September. By the fall, portable toilets and sinks were set up on downtown streets and other locations in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
Gloria said he wants the audit to ensure that lessons are learned.
“I’m not making this request to jam anybody up,” Gloria said. “But a lot was done here, and none of it was a proud thing for our community, so I’m really interested in making sure we don’t repeat it.”
In March, the Union-Tribune reported that the city hired out-of-town workers to pressure-wash the sidewalks. The emergency no-bid contract awarded to a Massachusetts-based company was worth up to $1.3 million, and the city paid the firm overtime to shuttle workers to and from Los Angeles.
Local companies told the newspaper that they would have liked an opportunity to compete for the work. Gloria called the story “concerning” and said he would ask for an audit.
Craig Gustafson, Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s senior director of communications, released a statement Thursday that did not object to Gloria’s request.
“We welcome a thorough, third-party review of the city and county’s actions to determine what worked and what didn’t so something like this never happens again. We’re confident the audit will show the city took aggressive steps, from sanitation efforts to the largest expansion of homeless services in city history, to tackle this unprecedented public health crisis,” his statement said.
San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, who called for an investigation into the response late last year, said in a statement that the county’s public health department “met the crisis head on” and added that a state audit could suggest future improvements.
She also said she does not think the outbreak’s origins were entirely in the county’s control.
“Although we are currently seeing great leadership at the city of San Diego with tackling homelessness and the housing crisis, it’s important to that the county grand jury in 2010 called on city leaders to address the growing homeless population, including the need for more public restrooms and sanitizing streets and sidewalks,” Jacob said.
“If state leaders want to look at where this crisis originated, that would be a good start.”
Gloria’s letter asks that any state-ordered audit address these questions:
• Was the initial identification of the outbreak as prompt as it could have been?
• Which criteria were used to determine that an outbreak was under way and that a public health emergency declaration was needed?
• Were “standard protocols” for handling infectious disease outbreaks followed and did county health officers communicate effectively with municipalities on the locations of specific cases?
• Did the city follow its protocols for approving public works contracts?
• Were local authorities aware of the potential for an infectious disease outbreak before March 2017?
• Did the county and city have the resources to prevent the outbreak?
• What steps have been taken to prevent another outbreak, and how would those steps be helpful to other California jurisdictions?
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