By Mike Sever

Record-Courier staff writer

Remember, this is only an exercise.

What if avian flu broke out in Asia and rapidly spread around the world?

What if, six weeks after hitting the U.S., the illness was into Ohio: People are being advised to stay home.

In Portage County, just three weeks after the first illness in the county, the number of cases hit 12,904 and 163 people have died from the disease -- and it's expected to get a lot worse.

The hospital is filling up, people are dying, people are panicking, police are called to disperse a crowd of protesters surrounding the county administration building, and health officials are running out of antiviral medicines.

That was the subject for a multi-county exercise Thursday with the Portage County, Kent and Ravenna health departments, the county Emergency Management Agency, Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna and local police and fire.

"This is a regional exercise, running out of Summit with a number of different counties: Ashland, Holmes, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland and Tuscarawas," said DuWayne Porter, Portage County Health Commissioner.

The exercise was to "test a different aspect of our capabilities now, once (the emergency) is up and going, how do we respond to changes," Porter said.

In Portage, three operation centers opened at Robinson Memorial, the county health department and the Emergency Operation Center at the Portage County Justice Center.

From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., monitors from the Ohio Department of Health watched how people reacted to the situation, throwing a curve ball every now and then.

For example: with Robinson Memorial Hospital inundated with flu victims needing respiratory aid, an industrial fire sends 15 burn victims in need of respirators to RMH. The operation centers have to quickly coordinate the number, location and delivery of respirators.

Sometimes, reality throws its own curves.

A morning conference call among all the participating counties was delayed when an Internet telephone connection wouldn't work. Old-fashioned land lines were used to complete the call.

By the time the exercise ended at 2 p.m., the players had been put through the wringer.

"They haven't had that intensity before for public health," Porter said.

But, he said, preliminary results were that it went very well. Porter was proud of the performance in Portage.

"Our strong point is collaboration. We're known for our community collaboration of health departments, EMA, fire and police departments," Porter said. He applauded Robinson Memorial, saying "they're very good players, in my mind."

"We've been very, very fortunate in this county. I wish others to see how far ahead EMA, fire and law enforcement are, compared to others," Porter said.