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Bird Flu Pandemic Plans Lacking in U.S.

By Patrick Thibodeau, Computerworld

The World Health Organization (WHO) has been keeping statistics on confirmed human cases of the H5N1 virus since 2003. WHO reported a total of 317 cases and 191 deaths worldwide as of last Friday. It said that in 2006, 79 people died from avian flu. Thus far this year, there have been 33 deaths, according to WHO.

McPherson thinks that IT organizations not only need to plan for a potential pandemic, but more importantly, must also have a planning process that can continuously adapt to changing conditions—thereby remaining fluid and flexible.

For instance, McPherson said telecommuting programs will ultimately become unworkable if a pandemic occurs because of network overload problems and a lack of access to broadband connections for many employees.

And at government agencies and other organizations where workers need access to paper forms, paper that is potentially laden with the virus will have to be quarantined for up to 24 hours, McPherson said. No one will be able to count on timely deliveries of such forms to workers at their homes, he added.

IT managers "need to prepare for what happens after the work-at-home plans implode," McPherson said. "And that is an army of people coming back into office buildings in close physical proximity to one another in order to keep the economy going."

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