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HHS Issues Guidance on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness for Businesses and State and Local Leaders

By Crystal Franco, December 16, 2005

On December 5, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) convened a meeting of state and local officials to kick off an integrated federal-state-local pandemic flu planning process.[1] The meeting included the Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), representatives from the White House Security Council and the Department of Agriculture, as well as other top ranking federal officials, who gathered to discuss the threat of pandemic influenza.

HHS has asked participants in the December 5 meeting to begin preparing for a series of in-state pandemic preparedness summits that the states will co-host with HHS. The summits are being held in order to help state and local public health officials and emergency responders coordinate with key members of their communities to create a robust pandemic response. Each state will hold a joint summit; the first states to hold summits will be Minnesota and Arizona.

In addition, on December 6, Secretary Leavitt, DHS Secretary Chertoff, and Commerce Secretary Gutierrez issued a letter to the business community stressing the importance of pandemic planning for businesses.[2] The letter was followed by a December 7 meeting on pandemic planning with business leaders.

HHS has created a Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist and a State and Local Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist to assist businesses and state and local public health and community leaders in pandemic planning.[3,4] The business checklist specifies activities in which businesses should be engaged in order to prepare for, and mitigate the consequences of, a pandemic. The state and local checklist is based on the HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan, but it is not meant to set requirements. Rather, state and local officials are responsible for deciding what level of preparedness is appropriate for their communities.

References

1. Federal Government Begins Pandemic Planning with States. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. December 5, 2005. Available at: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2005pres/20051205.html. Accessed December 16, 2005.
2. Pandemic Flu Business Letter. U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Commerce. December 6, 2005. Available at: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/panbusletter.html. Accessed December 16, 2005.
3. Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. December 2005. Available at: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/businesschecklist.pdf. Accessed December 6, 2005.
4. State and Local Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. December 2005. Available at: http://pandemicflu.gov/plan/pdf/Checklist.pdf. Accessed December 16, 2005.