Business Preparedness

What will the first days of the pandemic look like?

Imagine that the virulent H5N1 influenza virus has begun spreading from human to human in an Asian country. Your employees—like the rest of the world—are watching the situation unfold, and you must react. What do you do and when do you do it?

(CIDRAP News) – Decision makers in commerce and industry can explore how to plan effectively for an influenza pandemic at the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's (CIDRAP's) second national conference on business preparedness, to be held Feb 5 and 6 in Orlando, Fla.

Bird flu is 4 problems, not 1. Keeping them straight is a prerequisite to sensible risk communication—and sensible preparedness.

Fear is like a pie (or money): There's usually not enough to go around. If you want people to take precautions, you have to compete for your share.

For some 2 million Americans registered with 260 embassies or consulates abroad, the US government says its Web site (www.pandemicflu.gov) is designed to provide the latest information on avian and pandemic influenza.

Has your business taken into account what happens to your water supply when an influenza pandemic begins? 

Business people convinced of the possibility of an influenza pandemic agree: Convincing reluctant managers, organizing continuity planning, and educating employees can be challenging.

But if getting better prepared for a pandemic is tough, business managers say, keeping prepared is tougher.

How does a global company keep sharp its planning for a disaster that may be long in the making, acute at the onset, months in duration, and bigger in scope than any one-time event?

For Don Ainslie, global security officer at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2 years of minding avian flu's advance and planning for a human influenza pandemic has presented just such a challenge.