In the event of a flu pandemic, the federal government will be largely unavailable to cities across the country. Municipalities should prepare for a long disruption, relying on schools, churches and other social networks to develop response plans.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt "said the government has learned lessons from its bungled response to Hurricane Katrina, but his examples suggested the response to an avian flu pandemic would be more complicated. After most natural disasters, health care workers can come from elsewhere in the country to staff clinics in the affected zone. But a pandemic, he said, strikes everywhere, and each community needs all the resources it has.
It also lasts longer -- a year to 18 months, he said."
"'Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government will, at the last moment, be able to come to the rescue will be tragically wrong,' he said."
Thanks to Cristina Polyzoides
FULL STORY: Start planning for bird flu, U.S. warns cities, business
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