Pandemic: A Business Perspective

This is an analysis of a simulated, 12 week pandemic which was undertaken by a broad spectrum of businesses. The purpose was to provide a realistic assessment of how such a crisis would unfold and to ascertain the affects it would have on the different business sectors.

Computerworld:
www.computerworld.com...

October 24, 2007 (Computerworld) -- If a pandemic strikes the U.S., it will kill about 1.7 million people, hospitalize 9 million, exhaust antiviral medications and reduce basic food supplies, according to a planning scenario developed by financial service firms preparing for such a catastrophe.

This particular disaster occurred only on paper. But those grim numbers are some of the pandemic planning assumptions used by nearly 3,000 banks, insurance companies and security firms in a just-concluded, three-week, paper-based exercise that may have been the largest pandemic test of its kind.

If a pandemic strikes the U.S., it will kill about 1.7 million people, hospitalize 9 million, exhaust antiviral medications and reduce basic food supplies, according to a planning scenario developed by financial service firms preparing for such a catastrophe.

How could they possibly estimate this, when they can even tell if the Superbug or Bird Flu will mutate or not.

Pure speculation on the part of the gov. and false terrorism, IMO

[edit on 26-10-2007 by stompk]

Well, I am no scientist, but I would assume that, for the purposes of this study, they settled on one germ that would be considered as the likely culprit. Then, based on data provided by either the CDC or some other informed source, they looked at how quickly and by what means the virus would work its way around the country. Then, as stated in the article, they analyzed the economic effects.

I would assume that these business sectors have to be ready for anything and would not focus their time and money on an issue that was not relevant or possible.

But you are right, we should question why this information is released to the public. Is it, just the facts, is it conditioning (thusly softening the blow of a real pandemic) or is it just shocking our system with negative data to play on our fears and control our behaviors?

[edit on 26/10/07 by kosmicjack]

I think their numbers are too optimistic. This was a group looking at the financial industry and the impact on their sector. Too narrow of a view for a full blown pandemic and it's impact across the entire economy and population.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
But you are right, we should question why this information is released to the public. Is it, just the facts, is it conditioning (thusly softening the blow of a real pandemic) or is it just shocking our system with negative data to play on our fears and control our behaviors?

[edit on 26/10/07 by kosmicjack]

In light of the NWO conspiracies being bandied around on the forums these days, this actually worries me quite a bit.

Doesn't it occur to anyone that this is EXACTLY what a NWO group would want to know about if it possessed a biological weapon?

This theory might also account for the conservative estimate - it may be the case that there's a bunch of NWO scientists thinking; "how can we make the strain more fatal, then?".

This is where a paranoid line of questioning would take you, by the way.

I can't imagine a business who was asked to run at 50% manpower would give an accurate reflection of their capabilities.

It is all conjecture, what do they do, to simulate half the people at home, when they don't know which ones they are? Furthermore, I think the pay check to pay check people would be more likely to go to work, and the better paid ones would stay home.

I think the best estimate would be to assume all the secretaries took over the bosses jobs.

And their is such a change based on your industry. Medical industries would have major work load increases, as would basic services as people go on shopping sprees.

Service workers would stay home, warehouse workers would be less concerned with public contact.

I am just thinking of a few of the problems to get an accurate report, but maybe that's why it is thousands of pages.

I imagine people tasked to make these reports would be like the scenario in the movie where Dustin Hoffman played a scholar tasked to write an alien encounter scenario, and then it happened, and he said that he never thought it would, and just winged the report. Quite funny.

"They" are shooting for closer to 170 million...