Public Health Scene

MPR reports that Twin Cities hospitals are prepared for a worst-case scenario when the Republican National Convention opens in St. Paul later this summer.

But a recent federal report questioned whether local emergency rooms have the capacity for a large-scale disaster, particularly an act of terrorism.

Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, says that the biggest concern is a terrorist attack involving explosives or chemicals.

“Our health care system in Minnesota, like the rest of the country, has been gnawed to the bone, and frankly we've been sucking calcium. We have no real excess capacity,” he says, adding that additional federal funds for medical equipment and personnel will help.

More about convention preparedness from MPR