“There’s a chance that each of you will come into contact with the pathogen in some way. Those of you in Nairobi may be called into the field. First, know that it will be hot inside the suits. Kenya is located in a tropical zone. Nairobi is just eighty-eight miles from the equator. Even though it’s November, the midday sun in Kenya will cook you. You’ll be sweating before you put your suit on, and you’ll sweat even more while wearing it.
“Second, you’ll likely be unnerved by what you see. Some of us never get used to the human suffering we encounter during these deployments. There’s nothing wrong with that. You’re going to witness people living in poverty and circumstances you may have never seen before. If you feel overwhelmed, it’s okay to excuse yourself. Just let a team member know, then walk away and take deep breaths. Whatever you do, do not take your suit off. Inspecting and donning your suit is important, but being careful while doffing it is even more important. After you’ve had contact with patients, you may have virus particles and bacteria on the outside of your suit, hood, goggles, gloves, and boots. If you just rip any part of your PPE off, you’re putting your life at risk. When it comes to removing your suit: take—your—time. It won’t be easy; one hour is about all anyone can stand in the suits in this kind of heat, and by the end of that hour, you’ll be dying to get free. But again, take your time. Your life depends on it.
“Okay, what’s our deployment goal here? Anybody?”
The EIS agents, most in their late twenties or early thirties, sat near the front. The permanent CDC staff on the mission were a bit older, and most had deployed for a dozen outbreaks before. They sat toward the back and kept quiet during the Q&A, giving the EIS officers the opportunity to answer and learn.
In the second row, a woman named Hannah Watson answered. Her strawberry-blond hair was tied in a ponytail, and like Peyton, she wore Commissioned Corps service khakis.
“Containment and treatment.”
“Good.” Peyton wrote the words in large block letters on the whiteboard. “What else?”
“Identification,” Millen Thomas called out. He was a veterinarian of Indian descent, sitting several rows behind Hannah.
Peyton nodded as she wrote the word on the board. “Yes, it would be nice, at some point, to know exactly what we’re dealing with here. What else?”
An EIS officer in plain clothes called out, “Capacity building.”
“Very good. We are here to identify, treat, and contain this disease, but we’re also here to help the Kenyans develop their own capacity to stop outbreaks. The CDC has poured millions of dollars into Kenya with the hope of developing a disease detection and surveillance system as well as native capability to respond to outbreaks.
“In the battle against pandemics,” Peyton continued, “we have only one hope, and that’s to stop outbreaks where they start. To do that, we need to enable the Kenyans. For those of us in the field, it means training the Kenyan field epidemiologists. In Nairobi, that means giving the staff in the Ministry of Health and their EOC the support and training they need.