Pandemic Preparedness and the Private Sector

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Pandemic Preparedness and the Private Sector

• Vicki Bier (and Ad Hoc Pandemic Planning
  Committee)
• April 7, 2006

2
National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza
(November 2005)

• Responsibilities of the U.S. private sector and
  critical infrastructure entities include
• Establishing an ethic of infection control in the
  workplace
• Establishing contingency systems to maintain
  delivery of essential goods and services
• Establishing mechanisms to allow workers to
  provide services from home
• Establishing partnerships with other members of
  the sector to provide mutual support

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Numerous unmet needs

• Private sector
• Non-profit service providers
• Childcare centers, informal providers
• Public schools
• Underserved populations
• Labor issues/income continuation
• Utility companies/critical infrastructure
• Insurance
• Press/media

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Survey on Avian Flu (Watson Wyatt, March 2006)

• Companies are much more likely to already have
  plans in place (32 percent) in Asia-Pacific to
  deal with the effects of the avian flu
• 15 percent in the United States
• 11 percent in Europe
• 10 percent in Canada
• 9 percent in Latin America
• One in five companies is not at all concerned

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BIOSECURITY AND BIOTERRORISM, Vol. 3, No. 4

• State governments and the private sectorwill
  bear the lions share of the burdens of designing
  and executing most aspects of pandemic response
• (Commentary, pp. 292-294)
• Go figure (Nuzzo and DEsopo, pp. 368-369)
• Amount proposedfor pandemic influenza 100
  million
• Cost of one F-22 jet fighter 200 million
• Influenza pandemic that could be contained 20
  people
• The size of the SARS epidemic when WHO was first
  notified 300 people
• Sentinel physicians in Europe 28 per million
  Europeans
• Sentinel physicians in the U.S. 3.4 per
  million Americans
• Healthcare workers with direct patient
  contactadvised to receive influenza
  vaccination 100
• Healthcare workers with direct patient contact
  who got their yearly seasonal flu shots 35.7

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Education needs

• What would a pandemic look like?
• What could be economic consequences? (bottom
  line, economy as a whole)
• What would be psychological impacts?
  (communicating risk to employees)
• Basic safety measures (masks, gloves, )
• The wide range of possible scenarios

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Topics

• Address lack of baseline understanding
• Influenza 101
• What can I do now to be prepared?
• What do I do in the first wave?
• What do I do if it lasts a long time?
• Uncertainty about possible scenarios
• Awareness versus solutions

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Critical functions

• An organizations critical functions may not be
  the same as its core functions
• Care and feeding of lab animals (versus education
  of students)
• Information technology (to work from home)
• Physical site security (if operations close)

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Needs will vary by sector

• Some sectors need to continue operating
• E.g., food distribution and retail
• Some will see a dramatic drop in demand
• E.g., hospitality and travel
• Some will see an increase in demand
• E.g., medical supplies
• Partnerships with other sectors may be the most
  useful

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Employee needs also vary

• In some cases, needs are well aligned
• Groceries need to continue operating
• Grocery workers need their paychecks
• In other cases, needs are not well aligned
• Nurses are critical employees, but may find it
  difficult to work when schools are closed
• Hospitality workers are not critical employees,
  but need to continue receiving paychecks

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Uncertainty about scenarios

• There is no one-size-fits-all answer
• Individual circumstances differ by sector
• Few if any definitive recommendations
• If we tell people to hold extra inventory,
  pandemic may not hit for several years
• Businesses to make their own decisions
• A sample emergency plan is available at
  www.ready.gov/business/_downloads/sampleplan.pdf

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Planning Checklists

• http//pandemicflu.gov/plan/
• Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your
  business
• Identify a pandemic coordinator and/or team
• Identify essential employees and other critical
  inputs
• Train and prepare ancillary workforce
• Plan foran increase or decrease in demand
• Determine potential impact onbusiness
  financials
• Find up-to-date, reliable pandemic information
• Implement an exercise/drill to test your plan

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Planning Checklists

• Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your
  employees and customers
• Forecast and allow for employee absences
• Modify the frequency offace-to-face contact
• Encourage and track annual influenza vaccination
• Evaluatemental health and social services
• Identify employees and key customers with special
  needs

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Planning Checklists

• Establish policies to be implemented during a
  pandemic
• Employee compensation and sick-leave absences
• Flexible worksiteand flexible work hours
• Preventing influenza spread at the worksite
• Employees who have been exposed to pandemic
  influenza
• Restricting travel to affected geographic areas
• Activating and terminating the companys response
  plan

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Planning Checklists

• Allocate resources to protect your employees and
  customers during a pandemic
• Accessible infection control supplies
• Communications and information technology
  infrastructures
• Availability of medical consultation and advice

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Planning Checklists

• Communicate to and educate your employees
• Disseminate programs and materials
• Anticipate employee fear and anxiety, rumors and
  misinformation
• Ensure that communications areculturally
  appropriate
• Disseminate information to employees about your
  pandemic preparedness and response plan
• Provide information for the at-home care of ill
  employees and family members
• Develop platformsfor communicating pandemic
  status
• Identify community sources forinformation

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Planning Checklists

• Coordinate with external organizations and help
  your community
• Insurers, health plans, and major local
  healthcare facilities
• Federal, state, and local public health agencies
• Assets and/or services your business could
  contribute
• Share best practices with other businesses