Biologic exercise exposes federal-state messaging and authority gaps; city pushes for clearer public messaging and medical-surge plans

San Francisco emergency managers and public-health officials said a recent exercise series that simulated multi-day biologic events exposed gaps in coordination, public messaging, and assumptions about who is "in charge" when responses move beyond the first 72 hours.

Rob Dudgeon of the Department of Emergency Management described Dark Zephyr, a series of tabletop exercises and national-level senior-officials meetings. "A lot of it's not tested," he said of the science behind biothreat scenarios, and the exercise revealed how bureaucratic processes can slow action during an extended response.

The exercise highlighted fragmentation in public messaging. "Coordination of a public message" was cited by Dudgeon as a core lesson; he said federal partners sometimes could not release clear guidance quickly and that local and regional offices needed plans to manage inconsistent national releases. Dr. Pan, speaking from a health perspective, said it was "really hard for the federal government partners to think on a practical level" about implementable recovery standards and the prioritization of scarce medical resources.

Officials said the exercise also showed the need to plan beyond initial prophylaxis distribution and to address recovery questions such as environmental decontamination, long-duration antibiotic regimens, vaccine prioritization and who would lead allocation decisions. They urged strengthened local planning that anticipates differing federal assumptions, clearer messaging protocols, and an elevated focus on medical surge because hospitals routinely operate near capacity.

DEM said it will incorporate exercise findings into after-action reporting and coordinate further with public-health partners to develop practical recovery standards and medical-surge solutions at the local and regional levels.