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Bird flu plan stresses school closures
Bird flu plan stresses school closures
http://news.yahoo.com
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Wed May 3, 4:59 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House bird flu "implementation plan" sets out detailed plans for closing schools in case of a pandemic, and asks businesses to let employees stay home without sanction, an official familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
It is also blunt about how little the country can do to defend itself from a pandemic of influenza, giving details of how quarantines and border closures are likely to be futile.
The plan lays out 300 "very specific" tasks for each U.S. federal government agency, said the official, who spoke only on the condition that he not be identified.
The plan assumes the worst -- that if an influenza pandemic begins it will be months, if not years, before the best defense, a vaccine, can be formulated and manufactured.
Meanwhile, society will have to hunker down and let the disease run its course. The plan aims to minimize the damage.
The government is assuming that 40 percent of the work force will be absent at the peak of a pandemic, and it is based on a worst-case scenario in which 1.9 million Americans die from the virus and as many as 30 percent become infected.
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The reality is because of the way flu acts, quarantine is hard to make work," the official said. People can transmit flu before they look or feel sick so instead, the plan relies on voluntary quarantine -- asking people to stay home if they are ill, for instance.
Similarly, closing borders would likely only delay the arrival of the virus by a week or so, the official said. "We are pretty blunt about what we think that will and will not do," he said.
For instance, even if it were possible to keep out 90 percent of people trying to enter the country, it would "buy you maybe a week or two," he said. "If you bring that up to 99 percent, it might buy you another week or two."
So it is better to concentrate on reducing transmission as much as possible, and that means going to the ground zero of any epidemic -- the schools.
"Certainly school closure is something communities need to look at," the official said.
And the seven experts who have written the plan have considered what that would mean for working parents who may have no way to care for their children.
"We think it would be irresponsible for us to say we need to shut down schools without saying what that means for families, and for business," the official said, adding that employers would be encouraged to provide "liberal leave" policies for employees who may need to care for ill relatives, for children out of school, or for those simply afraid to come to work.
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent Wed May 3, 4:59 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A White House bird flu "implementation plan" sets out detailed plans for closing schools in case of a pandemic, and asks businesses to let employees stay home without sanction, an official familiar with the plan said on Wednesday.
It is also blunt about how little the country can do to defend itself from a pandemic of influenza, giving details of how quarantines and border closures are likely to be futile.
The plan lays out 300 "very specific" tasks for each U.S. federal government agency, said the official, who spoke only on the condition that he not be identified.
The plan assumes the worst -- that if an influenza pandemic begins it will be months, if not years, before the best defense, a vaccine, can be formulated and manufactured.
Meanwhile, society will have to hunker down and let the disease run its course. The plan aims to minimize the damage.
The government is assuming that 40 percent of the work force will be absent at the peak of a pandemic, and it is based on a worst-case scenario in which 1.9 million Americans die from the virus and as many as 30 percent become infected.
.....
The reality is because of the way flu acts, quarantine is hard to make work," the official said. People can transmit flu before they look or feel sick so instead, the plan relies on voluntary quarantine -- asking people to stay home if they are ill, for instance.
Similarly, closing borders would likely only delay the arrival of the virus by a week or so, the official said. "We are pretty blunt about what we think that will and will not do," he said.
For instance, even if it were possible to keep out 90 percent of people trying to enter the country, it would "buy you maybe a week or two," he said. "If you bring that up to 99 percent, it might buy you another week or two."
So it is better to concentrate on reducing transmission as much as possible, and that means going to the ground zero of any epidemic -- the schools.
"Certainly school closure is something communities need to look at," the official said.
And the seven experts who have written the plan have considered what that would mean for working parents who may have no way to care for their children.
"We think it would be irresponsible for us to say we need to shut down schools without saying what that means for families, and for business," the official said, adding that employers would be encouraged to provide "liberal leave" policies for employees who may need to care for ill relatives, for children out of school, or for those simply afraid to come to work.