Here are some notes from the avian flu pandemic plan meeting I went to a couple of days ago. At the meeting were people from Civil Defense, hospitals, utilities, transportation, hotels, restaurants, the press, and various other state and county agencies.
If you are presently working on putting a plan together, these notes may help. But not all this may be of help to you in your particular situation so you will need to decide what works for you. The main thing to remember is that there are things you can and should do now to prepare.
I. In general, as many as 40 percent of the employees may stay away from work for the following reasons:
A. He or she is sick with the avian flu.
B. Someone in their family is sick and must be cared for.
C. Schools are closed/no child care.
D. Afraid of catching the flu.
E. No transportation.
In order to mitigate these reasons, agencies may need to become more "family friendly." For example, you or your organization may need to provide a way for your employee to work from home, provide on-site child care, and/or transportation. For employees who are afraid to come to work, you may try instituting an education program that lays out the ways the flu is transmitted and reasonable and effective steps that can be taken to avoid becoming infected.
II. Since the flu may be contagious even when no symptoms are yet displayed, detection systems based on symptoms alone may not be very effective. Hence, a multi-tiered system that includes prevention, using the standard protocols of proper personal hygiene (e.g., washing your hands, using a mask and or gloves, covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, maintaining social distance of about six feet, etc.) may need to be emphasized.
III. Although up to 40 percent of employees may be out due to the reasons listed, the actual day-to-day percentage may vary. One participant indicated that for the first few days after the word is out that a pandemic has started, he probably wouldn't have any employees because they would all be getting the supplies they felt they needed or making arrangements for their families.
IV. Transportation to or from the affected areas would be overwhelmed, then reduced or cease. This includes people and cargo. Here in Hawaii there would at first be a rush of tourists trying to leave the islands and residents returning (assuming quarantine has not yet be instituted). Not all tourists would be able to leave while at the same time they might not be able to continue to stay at their hotels (either because of no rooms or no money to pay for them). Goods such as medicines, personal hygiene products, and food would soon become in short supply. If it is possible to begin amassing a long-term supply (at least a month, if not longer), to the extent possible, now would be a good time to begin.
V. Communications during this period is critical. What do you know and how do you know it? Who is the lead during this period? Your local, state, or national health department? The Governor? Civil Defense? Find out and listen to them. Otherwise, you will be overcome by rumors from any number of sources, many of which may be inaccurate.
VI. Large gatherings of people such as sports events (e.g., football games at the stadium) may need to be canceled or avoided due to risk of mass contamination.
VII. In our state, the Attorney General's (AG) office is responsible for preparing the legal requests for isolation/quarantine. The AG is also be working with the Public Defender's office to work out the details on how infected people will be represented in such proceedings. The legal profession in your area may need to start thinking about these things, especially if employers require legal documents such as these to prove you are out sick (and are now healthy to return).
VIII. Hospitals and physicians will most likely request that those who are not ill do not come to the hospital or doctor's office because if they do, and are not infected, they likely will be exposed to the virus from those who are sick and congregating at these two types of areas. This is counter-intuitive to the public as they have been educated to go to the doctor/hospital if they want to be tested.
IX. There are human resource questions as to what is the policy of allowing sick people to come to work. If someone is infected, do we prevent them from working? If so, under what authority? If sick leave or vacation time are used up, but they wish to stay home for any of the reasons in Roman numeral I, A through E above, what are the policies? If the person is out and a doctor's note is required by the employer, how would they get one if no doctor is available?
X. Families should be preparing now, much as they do for hurricanes or other disasters. The difference is the length of time to consider. If the pandemic last for several years, can you stockpile food, medicines, diapers, toilet paper, etc. for this long a period? If not, what alternatives are there?
XI. Janitorial/rubbish pickup may be affected. How do we keep our offices/businesses/homes sanitary?
XII. Those who have public contact need to have masks/respirators, gloves, and wash their hands.
XIII. Social distancing may require splitting employees into shifts or otherwise dispersing them to other locations so that fewer are present at one time in one location as an attempt to avoid cross contamination (i.e., even if one of the shifts/locations become infected, the other may still be okay).
XIV. Essential employees/functions must be identified just as you would/have already for a strike.
XV. There must be manual processes for all critical electronic ones because infrastructure like electricity and phone/Internet access may not be available or reliable.
XVI. Possible impacts to the courts (state and/or federal): orders for quarantine/isolation, probate, contested wills, bankruptcy, burglary, and theft (as order is lost, as occurred post Katrina and in Iraq).
Again, the main point is to begin planning now. Although life during a pandemic may be a struggle, it may be worse if we aren't prepared before hand. YMMV. Use at your own risk. Insert disclaimer here.
Aloha!
