Mover Mike

From the NYT, Bush Plan Shows U.S. Is Not Ready for Deadly Flu by GARDINER HARRIS,

A plan developed by the Bush administration to deal with any possible outbreak of pandemic flu shows that the United States is woefully unprepared for what could become the worst disaster in the nation's history.

When, not if, a pandemic strikes, the US, hospitals would be overwhelmed, there could be riots at vaccination centers, and power and food supplies could be disrupted. We have seen that on a small scale with the disruption of the Port of New Orleans.

The Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan (or PIS Plan for short)

outlines a worst-case scenario in which more than 1.9 million Americans would die and 8.5 million would be hospitalized with costs exceeding $450 billion.

The plan doesn't tell how the military would be deployed, but I suspect they would be used to enforce quarantines.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt said that flu planning would soon become a national exercise.

"It will require school districts to have a plan on how they will deal with school opening and closing," he said. "It will require the mayor to have a plan on whether or not they're going to ask the theaters not to have a movie."

"Over the next couple of months you will see a great deal of activity asking metropolitan areas, 'Are you ready?' If not, here is what must be done," he said.

bird flu H5N1 Pandemic