A Man With An Antiflu Plan
If by some chain of bad fortune it was H5N1 and we were dealing with it soon, we have limited tools. We are not as well prepared as we would like to be. We would be working with basic public-health measures. I believe we would do far better than they did in 1918, because healthcare is substantially better. By keeping people hydrated and clean, we would minimize substantially the harm that would otherwise happen.
What are you doing to get your family prepared for a pandemic?
We've had the conversation in our family of who would we call if we got separated, where would we reunite. We've begun thinking through, are there medications that would be necessary? Could we, if we needed to, stay at home for a time? We're just a few hundred feet from a convenience store, and we've come to depend on it as our pantry. That's not a good idea.
In the 1918 pandemic, many public officials were craven, or worse, and many people died as a result. What would you hope for your own performance if the worst happens?
My responsibility is to speak with clarity, where clarity is available. To inform but not inflame. To inspire preparation but not panic. One of the lessons of the Barry book for me is the missteps that occurred in withholding information. That is such an important balance in this business. Are we scaring people? This is scary stuff. I know that. It's clear to me that at some point if the H5N1 virus does not spark a pandemic, someone is going to say we overreacted. Someone is going to say [we] were crying wolf. Therefore, it's important to me that we have done our best to tell it straight and to let people be informed and draw their own conclusions.
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