COVID-19 Pandemic Contingency Planning for Animal Care and Use Programs

The Guide (pages 35, 74-75)  requires that institutions develop disaster plans that take into account the wellbeing of animals and personnel during unexpected events. Conducting a risk assessment will help to identify potential major hazards and threats, such as power outages, HVAC malfunctions, and natural disasters. Considering the geographic location of a facility “may provide guidance as to the probability of a particular type of disaster” (Guide page 35).  Location-based risk should be accounted for in the disaster plan with mitigation strategies to address all known vulnerabilities.

The disaster plan “should define the actions necessary to prevent animal pain, distress, and deaths” (Guide page 35).  Institutions may find consideration of the following components useful in the development of a comprehensive, effective plan:

• Backup systems for maintaining appropriate temperatures and ventilation if critical systems fail, including HVAC and alarms
• Schemes for transportation and relocation, or euthanasia of animals
• Provision of food, water, sanitation, and bedding during the disaster period
• Provision of services during significant personnel absences
• Establishment of institutional policies and procedures
• Approval of the plan as a part of the overall institutional and/or local disaster plan
• Identification of emergency responders and designation of responsibilities
• Personnel training and practice in the disaster response
• Needs in the event that primary and emergency power sources fail.

Institutions should periodically review and update the plan to adapt to program changes, evolving risk, and lessons learned from drills and actual disasters. Recent hurricanes and tropical storms provide lessons on the unpredictable nature and devastating effects of extreme weather events. Examples of the impact of these events include loss of animals located in basement facilities due to flooding, failure of back-up generators and loss of fuel supplies located in low-lying areas due to flooding, and loss of frozen reagents/specimens due to sustained power outages. Institutions are encouraged to continually re-assess their vulnerabilities as future climate changes are expected to cause higher sea levels and affect precipitation patterns and the severity of storms.

Disasters can happen at any time. With advance preparation, institutions may be able to lessen or eliminate the impact before a disaster occurs. Actions to consider are relocating animals from facilities located in storm surge areas or locations prone to flooding, cryopreserving valuable strains of animals, repositioning emergency power supplies, and backing up vital records in an off-site location.

OLAW provides a Disaster Planning and Response Resources webpage to assist institutions in planning and responding to natural and other disasters affecting animal facilities.

Institutions must adhere to provisions of the PHS Policy, the Guide and the commitments detailed in their Animal Welfare Assurance with OLAW. This includes advance planning for conditions that could arise as a result of a human pandemic (e.g., influenza) or outbreaks of novel infections (e.g., coronavirus disease 2019) that could jeopardize the health and wellbeing of animals because of a lack of personnel to care for the animals and/or to conduct IACUC official business.

Pandemic plans developed by institutions and IACUCs should include consideration of the following:

• Animal facilities must be maintained at a level to ensure animal welfare. Plans should consider appropriate staffing levels, cross-training to cover critical operations, and adequate inventories of essential supplies (e.g., feed, bedding, personal protective equipment, cagewash supplies).
• The IACUC should develop a plan for conducting official business during a pandemic event, taking into account the following:
  • The IACUC must continue to be properly constituted.
  • A quorum is required to conduct official business at a convened meeting.
  • The IACUC must ensure that protocol approvals are not allowed to expire or if they do expire, that no further animal activities (e.g., data collection) are conducted.
  • Appointment and training of IACUC members (including nonscientific members and alternates) should be considered as a part of the plan  (NOT-OD-01-017).
  • In devising a pandemic plan, the institution may wish to consider using options provided in the PHS Policy that it does not choose to use in the normal operation of its animal care and use program. Social distancing means focused measures to reduce contact among people. The PHS Policy contains some provisions that can be instituted as social distancing measures to prevent the spread of disease, including:
• The IACUC may choose to expand their use of designated member review.
• The IACUC may institute alternatives to face-to-face meetings such as teleconference or video conferencing (NOT-OD-06-052).
• The number of IACUC meetings may be reduced to as few as one every six months.

For information about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), see:

• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
• https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
• https://medlineplus.gov/coronavirusinfections.html
• https://disasterinfo.nlmnih.gov/pandemic-influenza
• https://www.aalas.org/iacuc/iacuc_resources/disaster-preparedness#.VnrtDfkrJhE 
• https://medlineplus.gov/disasterpreparationandrecovery.html
• https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/animal-health-and-welfare/covid-19