BIRD-FLU DRILLS EXPOSE GAPS: USVI health sites tested, results kept secret

Three unannounced drills using actors posing as bird-flu patients were conducted at healthcare facilities in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this year, according to a federal report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The exercises, part of a 73-drill program across New York, New Jersey and the territory between January and June 2026, tested how quickly staff would identify, mask and isolate patients with potential avian influenza A(H5). However, the CDC has not disclosed which Virgin Islands facilities participated or how they individually performed.

The simulated patients, aged 20 to 28, presented with pink eye, fever, muscle aches, coughing and general illness. When asked about sick contacts, they described attempting to rescue a sick duck without gloves and having direct contact with the animal before it died.

Across all 73 drills in the region, the results revealed significant gaps in preparedness. Staff asked questions capable of uncovering avian flu exposure in only 9.6 percent of exercises. Clinicians wore all required protective equipment in just 25 percent of encounters, and in 5.9 percent they wore none at all.

Masking took a median of two minutes, exceeding the one-minute target. Isolation took 11 minutes on average, surpassing the 10-minute goal. Only 60.3 percent of all drills were ultimately successful by the CDC's measure of both masking and isolation occurring.

The CDC did not reveal whether the three Virgin Islands drills occurred at three separate facilities or how the territory's sites compared to those in New York and New Jersey. The agency said participating facilities received debriefing reports after each exercise, but those details remain unpublished.

Researchers emphasized that waiting rooms can become high-risk environments when patients are not quickly identified. They recommended role-specific infection-control training for clinical and nonclinical staff, including security officers and receptionists who often encounter infectious patients first.

The CDC cautioned that the regional findings do not represent every healthcare facility and noted that some workers may have learned an exercise was underway before or during the encounter.