U.S. draws up bird flu response plan

Be prepared. The Bush administration has drawn up sweeping plans to prepare the United States for a bird flu outbreak. Among the items in the plan: U.S. money could be produced overseas and Americans checked in drive-through medical exams for signs of infection. Government officials say the first case of bird flu could show up in the United States in the coming weeks or months as birds migrate from overseas. President Bush will approve a national response plan in the next week or two, stipulating how agencies should respond if the disease were transmitted to humans.

The plan assumes a worst-case scenario in which as many as ninety million people in the U.S. would become sick and two million would die during a worldwide flu pandemic. The plan envisions people may need to avoid human contact and stay home from work, school, and other large gathering places.

Six months ago the president outlined the initial government response plan to the flu, but that plan concentrated mostly on the medical aspects of an outbreak. The more recent plan builds on the original, but addresses facets of the epidemic which go beyond medical issues.

For example, the response plan, assembled by the president’s Homeland Security Council, proposes that other countries make U.S. money if domestic mint locations cannot operate. The plan anticipates that employees could strain Internet capacity while working from home computers. The Veterans Affairs Department has developed a medical exam that could be conducted in VA hospital parking lots, with those who suspect they may be infected able to get a quick exam. The program is modeled after a drive-through flu vaccination program conducted last year.