To lessen the spread of germs, be prepared to have your work hours modified, your school classes canceled and that much-awaited concert postponed if a Category 4 or 5 influenza pandemic is declared.
Americans this month learned that pandemics will be rated with a severity index similar to hurricane forecasting. The strategy is that Americans will be prepared for what to expect.
If the epidemic is a Category 1, which is little more than a very active flu season, you'll likely be asked to isolate yourself at home for seven to 10 days if you are sick. Other measures from "social distancing" to canceled public gatherings may not be implemented.
In this new category system, a Cat 1 would be the mildest, and a Cat 2 would be the modern equivalent of the 1957 pandemic that killed about 70,000 Americans and 2 million people worldwide.
At the other end of the scale, a Cat 5 would be akin to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed at least 50 million people worldwide, including more than 675,000 Americans and 9,234 Mississippians.
The five new categories are based on projected numbers of death, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is using that gauge to make recommendations to states and local governments for changes to home, school, child care, the workplace and community gatherings. For example, the CDC recommends for a Cat 1 the voluntary home isolation of an ill person but does not recommend voluntary quarantine of household members.
"What the CDC is saying with this index is that there are all different levels of pandemic flu, just like with a hurricane," said Paige Roberts, executive director of the Southeast Mississippi Chapter of the American Red Cross.
"Pandemic flu is very scary for people, because we're talking about a serious enemy that we can't even see. So when we can get information and knowledge out to them, like in a category, and if it benefits people's safety and their well-being, that is a good thing."
By the new guidelines, a Category 2 or 3 suggests states and local governments consider closing schools, school-based activities and child care for about four weeks. Americans might also be asked to decrease social and work contacts, called social distancing.
Jump up to a Cat 4 and 5 and both isolation of the sick and quarantine of all in the household are recommended. So are school closings and child care for about 12 weeks.
Public awareness is a major weapon in slowing a pandemic, and that is a primary reason for the new Pandemic Severity Index, or PSI.
"We need to be personally prepared for a pandemic, just like they would be for a hurricane, by having the food and prescription medications to sustain you for several weeks," said Annette Biksey, infection control specialist at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport. "If we do have something like a pandemic, and some say 'when' not 'if,' it would affect everybody in every walk of life.
"My advice is to be prepared. Follow the CDC guidelines for personal preparedness and be vigilant. Take your annual flu vaccine; that's very important."
Biksey and others in health and first responder positions on the Coast have participated in training sessions organized by the Mississippi Department of Health.
"The Health Department has called together groups that have focused on the pandemic flu and preparedness, and they've linked hospitals and other agencies in the states," said Biksey. "They've had education sessions and trained people on the use of equipment, like masks and respirators, and made plans for additional stocks of supplies. I don't want to be an alarmist, but we need to be prepared."
