Back to the Flu, Sure

December 10, 2007 | Filed Under Crisis Planning 

As I was getting my flu shot last week, I realized that it’s been awhile since I deposited any bird pandemic droppings here.

Then I saw this report earlier today about a potential human infection in China. You can bet that pandemic media coverage will spool up over the next few months, even without a major outbreak.

And that leads to CEOs and board members asking “What are we doing about X?” sort of questions.

So here’s a few resources:

– NPR did an interesting interview on the subject a few months ago; they covered a Treasury Department scenario planning exercise.

– That Treasury-sponsored event has an “Untitled” web page here. There is a treasure trove of information, which is to be expected since the financial services industry is ahead of just about everyone else on crisis planning. (Note: some of the material says “not for public distribution,” so it may not be live indefinitely).

– The federal government has a general website here.

– A CDC-sponsored website is helpful as well.

Any discussion of pandemics (bird flu, SARS, or otherwise) is really about crisis planning. On steroids, if you will.

A closer look might be wise for many companies.

Duck and cover...