Mock Disaster at Kent State Thursday

Kent State University will host a mock disaster on campus today to give emergency and medical professionals a chance to hold a fake disease outbreak investigation.

The program, from 9 a.m. to noon, will take place in Beal Hall and is being held in part to give high school students enrolled in the university’s Upward Bound program a venue to learn about public health.

About 12 graduate and undergraduate Kent State students will have "contracted" salmonella from a restaurant on or near campus.

According to the university, the students in the Upward Bound program will act as:

• The epidemiologists, who will interview the sick students and determine a common exposure;
• The health inspectors, who will be conducting an inspection of the food facility on campus;
• A diagnostic lab unit, who will be in the lab working to determine what the infectious agent is;
• And the health commissioners, who will be located at the Portage County Emergency Command vehicle coordinating the investigation and fielding questions from the media.

Kent State is coordinating this activity and has secured participation from the Portage County Health Department and Emergency Management Agency.