US DOE Energy Official Warns on flu planning

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Flu Pandemic Nothing to Sneeze At, Energy Official Warns

Congressional Quarterly Inc

Few people connect electricity with the flu, but they might if all the

lights go off because the power company's staff is home sick.

The Department of Energy doesn't control the light switches, but its

far-flung operations affect millions of Americans. And its inspector

general found last month that DOE is behind in its pandemic flu planning.

" We concluded that while DOE headquarters and many department sites

are making progress in their pandemic influenza planning, much remains

to be implemented, " Inspector General Friedman wrote in a Dec.

19 memorandum to Energy Secretary W. Bodman .

Among the problems cited: The department has not coordinated with the

Department of Health and Human Services or state health officials

about distributing pandemic vaccines and antiviral medications.

DOE also has not conducted a " social distancing " drill — that is, a

test of its ability to operate with limited person-to-person contact

through steps such as telecommuting. Nor has it fully implemented a

process for identifying employees who would be unable to work during a

pandemic.

Only 550 of the department's 140,000 employees have taken advantage of

voluntary pandemic training provided by the department, the report said.

Still, some progress was noted. The department's security forces

obtained a high federal priority for receiving vaccines, and the team

responsible for departmentwide pandemic planning has worked with human

resources officials on issues such as employee medical training and

absentee policy.

Finally, the department's Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories

are developing pandemic modeling scenarios for the Department of

Homeland Security (DHS).

The human and economic consequences of a flu pandemic could be severe,

the report noted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), as many as 90 million people in the United States,

including 30 percent of the workforce, could become ill from a mutated

strain of avian flu.

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