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Ed Yeates Reporting Get prepared, just in case! That was the message to almost 500 people gathered in Davis County this afternoon for the Government's Pandemic Summit.
Though a bird or birds could fly into Utah or any state this summer, infected with the strain of Avian flu everybody's worrying about, that's still no reason to worry. But if that virus mutates, finding a way to spread from human to human, then it is time to worry.
That's why the Federal government is taking their traveling summit meetings to every state. Today it was our turn not only to hear, but to sign an agreement with the Government for mutual preparation.
First responders, businesses, educators, faith-based community groups, healthcare workers and more gathered at the Davis County Convention Center. If this virus should raise its ugly head with the same potency as its cousin did back in the 1918 Pandemic?
Michael Leavitt, Secretary, Dept. of Health & Human Services: "We would see 90 million people who would become ill, and regrettably, two million would die."
In Utah, 750-thousand could become ill. 15-thousand might die. That's a worst case scenario which may never happen, but the message in this summit? Everybody, even down to families in their homes, need to have a plan.
If you own a business and lose 40 percent of your workforce, how do you stay afloat? Could employees work out of their homes? Schools need to know how to handle quarantines. And if they close, do kids make up school a year later? Hospitals must deal with overloads.
And families might have to stay at home, avoiding church and public gatherings. They need their own plan with food and resources so they can stay there a while, if needed.
From this summit now the plans unfold.
