Get ready, America, bird flu is coming – the TV version, anyway.
Betting that viewers can’t resist a megadose of death and disaster, ABC has announced that a made-for-TV movie, “Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America,” will air May 9, during sweeps week. The storyline reportedly has a new strain of avian flu mutating into a form that can be passed between humans, something the real virus hasn’t done. The results won’t be pretty.
Like previous disaster films involving earthquakes and nuclear holocausts, this one figures to raise the national blood pressure a few ticks.
Good. The potential for a flu pandemic is real. Government, from the feds to the state to Snohomish County, understand that and are making serious plans to deal with a crisis. But their effectiveness will be limited if the private sector – employers and individuals – don’t also take preparation seriously.
Gov. Chris Gregoire last week signed an agreement for the state and federal coordination of efforts to prepare for pandemic flu. The outline of a federal plan was issued in November, and the details are expected in the coming weeks.
The agreement was signed at the Washington State Summit on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, a meeting of several hundred state and local public health, emergency management, business and other leaders.
In May, up to 150 people will begin work on Snohomish County’s preparations for major flu outbreak. One of the goals is to ensure that essential services continue even if thousands of people get sick.
It’s estimated that a pandemic could cause 200,000 illnesses in Snohomish County alone, about a third of the total population. Up to 6,000 people could die.
If an outbreak does occur, panic will accompany it. It will be too late then for employers to figure out how to conduct business with depleted staffs. Companies need to plan now for how they will produce and deliver goods and services if worst fears come true. Families should make sure they have plenty of essentials on hand in case they can’t get help for a week or more – water, food, medicines, etc. Given that we live in earthquake country, that’s good advice at any time.
In truth, no one knows whether bird flu will cause a pandemic. What we do know is that the virus is spreading, and that it could mutate into a human disaster. We have no choice but to take it seriously. Better to prepare for a disaster that doesn’t come than to ignore it and be sorry.
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