U.S. companies prepare for worst in bird flu plans
Source: Reuters
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor ORLANDO, Fla., Feb 6 (Reuters) - Exxon plans to keep some refinery workers living in the plants to keep them going. A small Southern grocery chain is thinking about drive-through pickup of soup and bread. A few international companies and small regional firms are making bird flu planning a full-time job, and said on Tuesday they have had to prepare for the unthinkable in doing so. Jay Schwartz, vice president of information systems at North Carolina-based Alex Lee Inc., is worried about what will happen when food supplies begin to get scarce as people become ill, stay home to care for children when schools close or tend to ill relatives. "Security is a huge issue," Schwartz, whose company owns a chain of grocery stores and an institutional food supplier, told a conference in Orlando. Big food trucks may be targeted by bandits. "Maybe we'll have someone riding shotgun for added security," Schwartz told the Business Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza summit, sponsored by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. Experts almost universally agree that the world is ripe for a pandemic of some infectious disease. The H5N1 avian influenza virus is considered the leading candidate to cause one. It can sometimes infect people and has sickened at least 271, killing 166 of them, according to the latest World Health Organization count. If the virus mutated in just the right way, it could easily begin spreading like common respiratory infections -- only with much more deadly effect. WHO predicts the outcome would be devastating. Companies are beginning to make plans to help their employees and their businesses survive. LEARNING BY TRIAL AND ERROR "What we are trying to find are the few who have those critical first-step plans that are going to help others," said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who arranged the conference. One big concern -- how to keep employees on the job if schools close and people begin to fear big gatherings. In a pandemic, the biggest danger may be the person next to you. "We don't have the option of shutting facilities down. We have the obligation of providing energy," said James McEnery, deputy vice-president for human resources at Exxon Mobil Corp. <XOM.N> "We are going to ask some employees to come in and live in the facility," McEnery told the conference. Food suppliers also feel an obligation, Schwartz said. "We have got to figure out how to keep the food supply going," he said. His stores may switch to products that people can stock, such as canned stew. They may arrange for drive-through pickup to avoid person-to-person contact. But this presents its own problems. "What do you do if a guy pulls up in a pickup truck and wants to buy all the soup?" Schwartz asked. Other companies feel well set up to make use of teleworkers."Everybody has got a laptop," said James Wall, global managing director of human resources for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. "Our plans assume that people would have to shelter in place and stay where they are." Jeff Levi of the Trust for America's Health has been urging the government to do more, but added, "There are some things that the private sector may be able to do better than the public sector." Distributing drugs may be one area. Praying may be another."We employ approximately 200 chaplains of many faiths," said Ken Kimbro, a vice president at Tyson Foods Inc.<TSN.N> "We rely very heavily upon this group in times of stress."
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