Feds issue swine flu checklist for organizations

Federal officials on April 28 issued a checklist for businesses to use as they prepare for the impact of a possible swine flu outbreak on their operations. The checklist – prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – is posted on the federal pandemic-flu website. In addition, the CDC is providing guidance on its flu website, including steps individuals should take to stay healthy.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proclaimed a state of emergency in California due to the flu outbreak, hoping to cut red tape and speed up attempts to respond to the new strain, which has been confirmed in at least 14 California cases. New York has reported 51 cases and Texas 16. Other states reporting infections include Arizona (1), Indiana (1), Kansas (2), Massachusetts (2), Michigan (2), Nevada (1) and Ohio (1).

According to news reports, there have been 159 flu deaths in Mexico, where 2,498 cases have been reported. As of April 29, CDC reported 91 human infections in ten states. There had been one U.S. death attributed to the flu – a 22 month-old child in Texas.

In Hawaii, however, the Department of Health said to date no cases have been identified. Health screenings at Honolulu International Airport have been stepped up for both international and domestic flights. Hawaii is the only state conducting airport screenings. A handful of people, including one who had visited Mexico, are being tested for the flu, officials said, but there are no confirmed cases.

"People should not be alarmed ... but they should be concerned," Governor Linda Lingle said at a news conference on April 27. State health officials have asked the public not to hoard prescription antiviral drugs to treat swine flu, since stockpiling could take medicine from those who need it.

State tourism officials talked briefly about the swine flu outbreak at the April 28 meeting of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. In addition to the enhanced screening of Mainland visitors arriving at Hawaii airports, the state is preparing a Q and A handout for hotels, tour companies and other tourism-related businesses.

The checklist distributed by the federal government includes these key tasks – and others – that businesses should consider:

• Identify a pandemic coordinator and/or team with defined roles and responsibilities for preparedness and response planning. The planning process should include input from labor representatives.
• Identify essential employees and other critical inputs (e.g. raw materials, suppliers, sub-contractor services/ products, and logistics) required to maintain business operations by location and function during a pandemic.
• Train and prepare ancillary workforce, such as contractors, employees in other job titles/descriptions and retirees.
• Develop and plan for scenarios likely to result in an increase or decrease in demand for your products and/or services during a pandemic, such as the effect of restriction on mass gatherings and the need for hygiene supplies.
• Determine potential impact of a pandemic on company business financials using multiple possible scenarios that affect different product lines and/or production sites.
• Determine potential impact of a pandemic on business-related domestic and international travel, such as quarantines and border closures.
• Find up-to-date, reliable pandemic information from community public health, emergency management and other sources and make sustainable links.
• Establish an emergency communications plan and revise it periodically. This plan includes identification of key contacts with back-ups, chain of communications – including suppliers and customers – and processes for tracking and communicating business and employee status.
• Implement an exercise or drill to test your plan and revise periodically.

Click here for the complete checklist.

State Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said the state has enough antiviral medicine to treat 25 percent of the resident and visitor population. Federal health officials are working on developing a vaccine, but the CDC said that would take several months.