Fear, Sex and Pandemic, the Conclusion: How Do We Reduce the Impact of Pandemic Flu?
We need both behavior and policy changes to make it possible, much less most likely, for people to avoid being negatively affected by pandemic flu:
People need to be able to stay away from others when they are likely to be transmitting viruses. Currently this is very difficult for most, both because some companies will fire you if you do not show up, but also because of a cultural expectation that it is a good thing to work through colds and sickness-to tough it out, and get back to work as fast as possible.
Necessary policy changes: people need to be able to stay home: end the right of employers to say ‘go to work or be fired'.
Behavior changes: need to reduce the social pressure to ‘tough it out'
Promote change enablers: Promote teleconferencing, distance learning, telecommuting and other new technologies that let people be productive from a distance.
Quantifiable benefits: Flexible work policies are already considered best practice because they increase the ability of companies and schools to keep functioning even during other types of disruption as well. It should be possible to calculate the loss in productivity from sick days and project the gains that can be achieved for every % drop in the number of people out sick.
People need to be able to distance themselves, but still be able to function and feel connected to society. Almost all people have strong built in desires to do things that feel useful, and to interact with others. Pandemic planners recognize that short periods of physical isolation can radically reduce the impact of a pandemic, but this ignores the drive for people to connect so is unlikely to be feasible unless more is done to create situations where people can feel socially connected to others regardless during times they physically are distanced or isolated.
Changes to Policy: Work to adopt policies to increase the population's access to the internet, such as the creation of publicly funded wireless internet zones. Increasing the number of public computers, classes.
Behavior changes: Help demonstrate ways that people can stay connected and involved with the outside world, even if they are keeping to themselves for short periods.
Promote change enablers: Social networking sites are doing a lot to re-connect individuals and increasingly, it is becoming easier and more affordable to access these networks. Reward and encourage technology companies who take steps to increase the ease of use of their products, either by making it available through multiple technologies (affordable phones, pagers, Netbooks and computers) or by improving user-interface so that it is more comfortable for individuals of the widest scope of age, education, and ability.
Quantifiable Benefits: Increasing the connection between people reduces problems related to social isolation and provides individuals more resources in times of emergencies.
We need to reduce crowding: rush hour commute-work to bring about flexible hours.
Necessary policy changes: flexible work hours-reduce the need for everyone to surge on to the streets at the same time during rush hour.
Behavior changes: point out ways that individuals can make small changes to routine to avoid crowds: don't take public transportation during rush hour. Avoid movie premiers during pandemics, watch the movie at less crowded times.
Promote change enablers: show how ordinary people and businesses are figuring out ways to function without close face to face contact-sales kiosks, internet based orders/sales, business process adjustments to build extra space and barriers in situations that require client interaction.
Quantifiable benefits: Reduced pollution, less strain on public transport. Improved -time not spent waiting can be spent on more useful things-thus, improving quality of life, and again, greater productivity.
Reducing the health impact on the poor is social equalizer steps to reduce the impact of health problems of the individuals who face the highest challenges in our society, can go a long way in solving many of our most difficult problems.
If helping create a healthier world for the most vulnerable isn't good enough, then Remind everyone that we are all in this together. The more people who get sick, the harder it is for all of us to stay well. It makes sense to create policies and adopt behaviors that allow the whole population to stay well. We all need to focus on creating a reality that makes it easy for everyone to avoid getting and passing on the flu.
Taking steps that slow down the spread of viruses increases the quality of our lives. Pandemic planning is do-able and logical but we need to change the way we talk about pandemics to move towards responding by reducing risks, instead of fearfully reacting to them.
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