In my last blog I was concerned about the number of people who are getting swine flu and suffering particularly badly without having any underlying health problems. My fears were confirmed this morning as I read that 14 people in Wales are being treated in hospital for severe swine flu, with one person actually being treated in critical care. None of the 14 people have any underlying health issues. In addition the US has seen a rise in swine flu cases with 1 in 4 people who are being hospitalised ending up in intensive care.
What message this sends me is that we cannot underestimate what this virus can do to us, our children and our colleagues. If disruption to our routines and work is worse than we are expecting then we could see a slow down in economic activity over the winter months as key employees, customer service staff, sales staff etc. are confined to their beds or looking after sick relatives for a week or more. I don’t necessarily see that the UK will come to a stand still but I just think that everything we do will take a lot longer, meaning that contract deadlines could be missed, deliveries could be delayed and the entire supply chain system could experience a slow down, causing any number of problems.
This disruption could be minimised by taking the right precautions as I have alluded to in previous blogs, and feedback I am getting from the market is that people are starting to take pandemic planning more seriously which is a good sign. I will keep you posted with any further developments I come across…
Tags: business continuity, pandemic, swine flu
