Emergency Protocol for Disease Outbreaks
An outbreak is when 2 or more individuals report similar symptoms (like vomiting, diarrhea, fever, or stomach cramps) within a short timeframe (24–72 hours), especially if:
- The sick people haven’t shared a tent together
- The symptoms match a known infectious pattern (like norovirus or shigella),
- The cases appear to be spreading (new people getting sick),
Even if you're not 100% sure, it's better to act early than to wait.
If an outbreak occurs during a gathering, follow these immediate response measures:
1. Identify & Care for Sick Individuals
🚨 Recruit an urgent care team to monitor situation, coordinate care of sick faeries, liaise with facilitators, and make sure the gathering is familiar with hygiene protocols and good practices.
🚨 Set up a "nursery tent" where sick people can recover with access to water and simple foods.
🚨 Encourage anyone with vomiting, diarrhea, or fever to self-isolate away from communal spaces.
🚨 Encourage hydration with electrolyte drinks or oral rehydration salts.
🚨 Monitor severely ill individuals for signs of dehydration or worsening symptoms.
🚨 If symptoms persist beyond 48 hours, consider seeking medical attention.
🚨 Create a tracking log of sick faeries, include all symptoms and the day/time of when they began
2. Adjust Food & Water Handling
🚨 Stop all buffet-style serving—only designated, gloved servers should handle food.
🚨 Ensure only hot food (above 75°C/167°F) is served to kill bacteria, no salads!
🚨 Meal prep team should all be symptom free for 48 hours
🚨 Disinfect all jerrycans and dishwashing tubs immediately.
🚨 Boil or treat all drinking water if contamination is suspected.
3. Increase Hygiene & Sanitation
🚨 Mandatory handwashing enforcement before meals and after toilet use.
🚨Designate 1 or 2 toilets specifically for sick individuals with diarrhea or vomiting. Healthy faeries should only use the other toilets to prevent cross-contamination.
🚨Clean sick toilets more frequently, use extra sawdust, and ensure the lid stays closed to reduce fly attraction and replace shit tons more often.
🚨 Regularly disinfect high-contact surfaces (toilet seats, kitchen counters, door handles).
🚨 Use a separate laundry basket for sick individuals' linens to prevent contamination.
🚨 Wash contaminated bedding and clothing immediately using hot water (at least 60°C/140°F) when possible.
4. Address Fly Infestation if Worsening the Outbreak
🚨 Increase mosquito nets around food and use more fly traps.
🚨 Immediately remove and replace shit tons if they are attracting excessive flies.
5. Aftercare: after the outbreak and when faeries got back home
The main recommendation is to talk during the gathering about an aftercare plan. Actions taken could involve:
- Making sure every faerie that was sick is in touch with somebody and not alone until they recover.
- Making sure every faerie can access medical care and if not, what’s needed for them to access such care, especially for faeries who wouldn’t be able to afford basic medication or basic tests.
- Create a solidarity fund for extra costs or urgent costs that need to be done by faeries who can’t afford such costs.
- Collecting results of medical analysis to keep monitoring the epidemic (see template)
- Creating a specific aftercare chat group, possibly including other faeries that were not at the gathering
This should be done within the group of that gathering, with assistance from the steward circle and/or a call can be done to find specific support among the broader community.
FOR THE STEWARDS : proposal to create an emergency health fund that can be activated when serious outbreaks happen and that faeries can make a request to, possibly with an individual limit (for example 50€ per person) for travel and/or basic medical costs.