RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Terry McAuliffe says Virginia ranks at the top of a national assessment of states’ preparedness for health emergencies. The National Health Security Preparedness Index is an annual initiative of the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall scores for states range from 6.5 to 8.2. McAuliffe announced that Virginia scored an 8.2 on the 2014 index, which was up from the previous year’s 7.9. The index grades states on such measures as health care delivery, environmental and occupational health, incident and information management, and data collection and dissemination.
