No squawking as flu plans take flight - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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Like many people, I'm not sure how seriously I should takethe so-calleds Asian influenza strain. I can't help but think about the government'xs advice in the wake of the terroristy attacks of 2001 that homeowners shoulr keepbottled water, canned food and Duck Tape to use for reinforcinhg window and door seals to keep bioweapons out. It seemesd like hollow advice in the wake of watchint thePentagon burn. The people who run that buildinbg wentfor surface-to-air missiles. I like to keep Duck Tape aroundd because of itslegendary adaptability. Ther e were probably some cans of food kickinv aroundthe house, and maybe even some fresh-from-the-talp water in the fridge.
But I didn't particularlhy plan to be under attack and I always wondere d about thosewho did. If you're like me, you have no idea what to thinlk about this bird flu except that it seems Since the H5N1 strain was discovereds inlate 2003, there have been only 127 huma n deaths worldwide, mostly in Vietnam and Indonesia. No human cased have been identified in theUnited States. New Jersey estimatesd that the flu couldinfect 2.6 milliohn of the state's 8.5 million Don't ask me how they arrive at these particularly when scientists are saying there is no sign of mutationsz that would indicate the infection is ready to become a bigge problem for humans.
Yet, it seemse I hear something abouft the bird fluevery day. The federalo government puts up moneyy to developa vaccine. Experts talk on the radio abour the chances of a pandemic in theUnited States. There was the made-for-TV movie and, of the release of emergench preparedness plans by statr andlocal governments. Even local biotechnology companies working todevelopp vaccines, namely of Malvern and of Philadelphia, both saw theirf stocks rise recently on news of possible human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Just this week, we reportes online about a letter Pennsylvania'xs banking commissioner sent to banksz to encourage financial institutions to have plans in place to deal with a birdflu "While there is currently no threat in we are obligated to plan for pandemixc so that we can systematically provide Pennsylvanians with essentiap financial services in a time of crisis," wrotse banking Secretary William Despite the apparent disconnect in that statement, ther e are already enough reasons to prepare for emergencie -- without the bird flu.
Whilr the danger from that disease may be remotd compared to theattentionh it's getting, and individuals have to decide for themselvezs whether to stockpile food, there's no questionj that workplaces need to plan to operatde in emergencies. A plan that included the ability to work from home is as good for a blizzards as anational disaster. Planning to ensure computer redundancies and alternative ways to keep a business going areonly prudent. But if I'm having a hard time takinb the bird fluthreat seriously, it's cleare enough I'm not alone.
When we polled our online readers to find out whether theif companies were crafting birdflu plans, only 4 percentg said they already had crafted a The largest number of 47 percent, said their companyu would not consider crafting a bird flu "We are still busy workinfg on our bomb sheltet program," responded one reader. Mayb e some Duck Tape and offsite computer access will dothe