Swine Flu Could Have Huge Effect in Communications

Organizations with robust remote work infrastructure in place might be unintended beneficiaries if a developing swine flu epidemic becomes something worse.

The director general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, said the "situation is evolving quickly" and lots of news reports use the term "pandemic." That's arguably incorrect. Scientists say it could evolve into a pandemic, but is not one now.

"We do not yet have a complete picture of the epidemiology or the risk, including possible spread beyond the currently affected areas," says Chan. "In the assessment of the WHO, this is a serious situation that must be watched very carefully," she says. "It has pandemic potential."

A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide. It has connotations of very-large fatalities.

Here's why businesses and organizations should care, and what role communications might start to play if something more serious than a widespread outbreak of "relatively normal" influenza occurs.

The normal way governments and countries deal with "pandemics" includes vaccines, drugs "social distancing." That means limiting contact between humans. Mexico has already done this, by banning public gatherings and closing schools in affected areas.

The first business implication: there is some chance of a serious disruption of normal business activities. The virus, for which there is no vaccine for humans, has nearly brought Mexico City to a halt, some note. If the virus were to mutate to a more-virulent form, especially a new strain for which there is no vaccine, matters will escalate.

The primary tool of public health in any pandemic situation will be quarantine and the primary goal will be slowing or halting the spread of the disease, not just within a given community, but from community to community. As such both international and domestic trade, including trucking, train and air freight, will take a phenomenal dive, one might conclude.

Also, people will be discouraged from gathering in large numbers in public, and businesses might want to disperse their work forces as well. Organizations that already have the ability to support remote work will have an advantage.

Support for remote workers makes sense for lots of other good reasons. But just as it makes sense to encourage people to “wash their hands” and avoid going out in public if they have the flu, organizations need to have the ability to support remote work. Epidemiologists say it will be necessary, sooner or later.