# 1884
Sit across the table and gaze directly into the eyes of some of the top Federal officials charged with preparing for a pandemic, and you will come away with one inescapable conclusion.
To these people, this is not a drill. This is not some obscure academic exercise, and they are not simply exercising due diligence (legalese for CYA) preparing for a threat that they believe will never come.
To these people the threat is very real, and their concern is genuine.
They recognize that another pandemic is not only possible, it is all but inevitable. And since it’s been 40 years since the last pandemic swept the globe, they recognize that time is not on our side.
Unfortunately, this level of concern seems to dilute as you move further down the political food chain, and almost disappears at the local level.
Of course there are exceptions.
You couldn't ask for a more engaged local government than King County-Seattle. And Larimer County, Colorado has a very proactive health department, as does Fairfax County, Virginia. Nez Perce County, Idaho is another example of a pandemic aware local government.
There are others, like the Montgomery County, Alabama health department, Scottsdale, Arizona , and Bethel, Connecticut who have undertaken major pandemic exercises, but these are, as I said, exceptions.
I'm sure I've left a good many proactive communities out of the list above, and to them I apologize.
The point is, 2 and 1/2 years after the Federal Government raised the pandemic alarm, there shouldn't be any community that hasn't created a serious pandemic plan. By now, every police, fire, EMS, and health department should be educated, drilled, and prepared.
And they aren't.
Frankly, those that have drilled, planned, and prepared appear to be in the minority. Often, local officials don't even want to discuss the issue, a complaint which has been an ongoing topic of conversation on most of the flu forums for at least two years.
There are two huge gaps in our nation's preparedness for a pandemic, and this is one of them. The other is the lack of awareness and preparation by the general public and small businesses. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and right now, local preparedness isn't very strong.
This is how Michael Leavitt put it when he spoke to the Health Ministers of Central America (COMISCA). It is a message he has delivered many times and in all 50 states.
My purpose in meeting with them is to emphasize that preparedness is primarily a local and state responsibility. Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal or state government will rescue them will be tragically mistaken.- Michael Leavitt, Secretary HHS June 08, 2006
Secretary Leavitt's remarks, made nearly two years ago, apparently still haven't filtered down to the local level, despite his 50 state pandemic tour in 2006. The message he delivered seems to have been either forgotten or ignored on the local level.
It is all well and good that our Federal, and to a lesser extent, our State governments are prepared, but that won't help the average citizen during a crisis. It will be in the cities, towns, and neighborhoods where the battle against a pandemic will be waged.
And that means that every city, town, and neighborhood must be prepared. Civic groups, schools, the PTA, churches, health departments, hospitals, emergency services, and local businesses all need to get involved.
Preparing for a pandemic is truly a community effort.
And they need to do so with the same grim determination I saw last month in Washington. They need to understand that a failure to prepare now will cost lives down the road.
Far too many communities still have their heads in the sand, leaving their backsides exposed. The message from the Federal government has been pretty clear - but far too few are listening. They still believe the cavalry will ride to their rescue, and so they do nothing.
We have, for the first time in history, some advance warning that a pandemic may be coming.
But that knowledge is of little use if we fail to act on it, and prepare.
