Tips for preparing for an outbreak

Families and individuals

• Stock up: Keep a two-week supply of food and water on hand, as well as supplies of prescription and nonprescription drugs, vitamins, fuel and other supplies.

• Form Habits: Wash hands frequently, cover coughs and sneezes with tissues and stay home if you are sick.

Businesses

• Plan: Be ready for one-third of the work force suddenly calling in sick, supply lines drying up and revenues stopping for weeks at a time.

• Teach: Help employees prepare themselves and their families. Promote frequent hand-washing and coughing and sneeze etiquette. Provide a source for accurate, up-to-date information within your organization.

• Communicate: Check with local and state officials for tips, and coordinate plans with customers and suppliers.

Businesses urged to plan for bird flu

LEWISTON – Sickness is only the start when it comes to a pandemic flu.

Up to one-third of world’s population could get sick if the avian flu turns into a full-fledged worldwide epidemic, according to Dr. Andy Pelletier of the Maine Department of Health.

“The good news is, two-thirds of the population won’t get sick,” Pelletier told a group of business and human relations professionals Thursday morning. “The bad news is, it’s still hundreds of millions of people.”

That will have a profound effect on every aspect of life. Pelletier, and other panelists, urged businesses to start planning now.

“What will you do when one-third of your employees call in sick?” Pelletier asked.

The breakfast panel was organized by St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and WorkMed, an occupational health affiliate, to help businesses begin preparing for an avian flu outbreak.

Avian flu is a strain of the H5N1 virus being tracked by the World Health Organization. The virus has already been responsible for millions of dead birds around the world and 200 reported cases of human infections, most in Southeast Asia. About half of the people infected have died from the disease.

The disease has spread from birds to people in every instance so far, but health experts say it will spread rapidly if it begins to spread among people. That could lead to a worldwide pandemic, with millions infected and killed. In Maine, it could mean 380,000 infections with 48,500 hospitalized and 9,000 deaths.

Scientists are limited in what they can do until those first strains of human-to-human flu virus are identified. Once they have that, doctors can begin making vaccines and treatments.

Local efforts will focus on delaying the spread of the disease until the vaccine is ready.

There’s a lot to plan for, according to Joanne Potvin, director of Androscoggin United Emergency Management Agency. Businesses need to figure out how they’ll continue to operate with many employees out sick and others caring for sick family members.

“Will they continue to get paid?” Potvin said. “That’s one question to ask. What if they run out of sick time during the illness. Will they get paid up to that point, and then nothing.”

Suppliers and customers figure into the equation, as well.

“You can’t get what you need if all of the truck drivers bringing it to you are out sick,” she said.

The answer for businesses is the same as the answer for individuals – start planning now. Stock up where you can and figure out what to do if the worst does happen.

Businesses can take another step and begin training their employees to avoid the virus. Simple things like regularly washing hands will help contain the spread of any colds and sickness.

Bigger things, like encouraging employees to get seasonal flu shots help, too. The seasonal shot won’t protect against the avian virus, but it gets employees used to getting flu vaccines.

“We think it unclouds the issue,” said Dr. Jonathan Torres of St. Mary’s. It could keep employees from getting sick with other flu strains, as well.

“Their first thought is, ‘Ooh, Avian flu – better get my vaccine,” Torres said.

They also suggested cross-training employees, allowing the healthy to fill in if co-workers are out sick.