No squawking as flu plans take flight - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Like many people, I'm not sure how seriously I should takethe so-callerd Asian influenza strain. I can't help but thinl about the government's advice in the wake of the terrorisr attacks of 2001 that homeowners should keepbottledr water, canned food and Duck Tape to use for reinforcinfg window and door seals to keep bioweapons out. It seemed like hollosw advice in the wake of watchinb thePentagon burn. The people who run that building wentfor surface-to-airr missiles. I like to keep Duck Tape aroundx because of itslegendary adaptability.
Thered were probably some cans of food kicking around the and maybe evensome fresh-from-the-tap water in the But I didn't particularly plan to be under attackk and I always wondered about those who did. If you're like me, you have no idea what to thino about this birdflu business, except that it seemws remote. Since the H5N1 strain was discovered in late there have been only 127 huma ndeaths worldwide, mostly in Vietnanm and Indonesia. No human cased have been identified in the United New Jersey estimates that the flu coulxinfect 2.6 million of the state's 8.5 millionh residents.
Don't ask me how they arrive at these particularly when scientists are saying there is no sign of mutations that wouldc indicate the infection is ready to become a bigger problejmfor humans. Yet, it seems I hear somethingv about the bird fluevery day. The federal government puts up moneyy to developa vaccine. Expertse talk on the radio about the chance s of a pandemic in the United There wasthe made-for-TV movie and, of the release of emergencuy preparedness plans by state and local governments.
Even local biotechnolog companies working todevelop vaccines, namely of Malverbn and of Philadelphia, both saw theid stocks rise recently on news of possiblwe human-to-human transmission of the virus. Just this we reported online about aletter Pennsylvania's banking commissioner sent to banksa to encourage financial institutions to have plans in place to deal with a bird flu "While there is currently no threat in Pennsylvania, we are obligatec to plan for pandemic so that we can systematicallg provide Pennsylvanians with essential financial services in a time of wrote banking Secretary William Schenck.
Despite the apparent disconnect inthat statement, there are alreadyh enough reasons to prepare for emergencies -- without the bird flu. Whilwe the danger from that disease may be remote comparefd to theattention it's and individuals have to decid for themselves whether to stockpile there's no question that workplaces need to plan to operatwe in emergencies. A plan that includeas the ability to work from home is as good for a blizzarf as a national Planning to ensure computer redundancies and alternativre ways to keep a business goinv areonly prudent. But if I' having a hard time takinf the bird fluthreat seriously, it' clear enough I'm not alone.
When we polled our onlines readers to find out whethe their companies were crafting birdflu plans, only 4 perceny said they already had crafted a The largest number of respondents, 47 percent, said their companty would not consider crafting a bird flu plan. "Wew are still busy working on our bombsheltee program," responded one reader. Maybe some Duck Tape and offsit e computer access will dothe trick.