Swine Flu and Telework
Not to add to the ton of news stories and blog posts out there about the flu outbreak in Mexico, I thought I’d mention a few observations from my end. I’ve been keeping an eye on the news reports as things come out, its looking like there’s more and more cases and suspected cases coming to light. The recent news in the Wapo is that there are a few suspected cases in the DC metro area, kind of makes you feel icky thinking about it. So far I haven’t seen any hospital masks on the people riding the train into work, I think tomorrow might be a different story.
The sad thing is that whats most likely is that if the government decides to start taking precautionary measures it’ll probably be backward looking, in that it will be only after the city is overrun with new confirmed cases of the flu. I’m wondering at what point will the decision-makers think that there needs to be a shift in focus and policy. There has been some talk about this whole thing being overblown out of proportion, given that the seasonal influenza comes through every year and sickens a large number of people and kills a bunch all over the world. I dunno if I’m really into that analysis, after having a few bad bouts of the flu over the years, I don’t want to get anything like it, not this time, not ever.
At work I remember reading a memo announcement a while back about continuity of operations plans, essentially, setting up people with the ability to telecommute or telework instead of physically coming into work. It sounded excessive at the time I read the memo, but lately I’ve come to appreciate the extra preparations that could and should be made just in case. I’ve been working with an episodic telework arrangement to work around my class schedule, its been a real plus to be able to work on things remotely, it saves the hassles of commuting back and forth from class to home to work and back. I remember going to an external training session sponsored by my workplace that had a speaker focusing on the vulnerabilities of modern society to any kind of health care epidemic.