US bird flu plan looks to communities, businessMon Dec 5, 2005 1:51 PM ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is preparing for a worst-case
scenario if bird flu causes a human pandemic, with a projected 92
million people sick, schools closed and businesses disrupted, Health
and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Monday.
Leavitt said he was scheduling 50 separate state-by-state meetings
with state and local officials to begin pinning down how each
community will plan for the possible pandemic of H5N1 avian influenza.
"The reality is, and you know it -- pandemics happen," Leavitt told a
meeting in Washington of state and local health and emergency
officials.
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The U.S. plan includes a worst-case scenario with an outbreak starting
in a small village in Thailand and spreading quickly to Europe and the
United States.
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Full article:
http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=uri:2005-12-05T185110Z_01_RID567810_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-USA.xmlIn short, businesses and communities need to prepare for major
disruptions to mitigate the impact when the pandemic comes.