Business Continuity

Pandemic preparedness is a moving target-you need to keep adjusting your expectations and preparations as the situation changes around you

• June 13: researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported shifts in the H1N1 virus giving it a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses, increasing the risk of causing pneumonia.
• June 22: Cases resistant to Tamiflu were reported in Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan.
• June 24: the WHO reported that H1N1 vaccine yields are currently 25% to 50 % of the normal yields for seasonal influenza for some manufacturers. They also note a recent report suggests obesity may be another risk factor for severe disease.

You should quietly investigate a “worser case” scenario than the ones you have now using a more infectious, harsher, drug-resistant influenza strain.

• Make sure you factor in things like the suddenly-limited resources of both vaccines, local health departments and hospitals, which may make mass-inoculation programs problematic.
• Keep a closer eye on how the virus is changing-the list of “added risk factors” for severe sickness keeps growing as more is learned.
• Have you checked your supplier’s plans?  I have yet to speak with any clients who had factored in what the potentially high worker absentee rate would do to the supply chain for things like food and fuel… what happens to your plans if your healthy staff has hungry dependants and an empty fuel tank in their car?