Just look at the headlines of the last few weeks: Influenza Hits All Fifty States; Emergency Rooms Packed to Capacity; Staff Shortages Causing Concern for Critical City Services; More Companies Looking at Telecommuting. So we are in the midst of the yearly silent war on humanity from these invisible microbes, and yet those of us who have been harping on planning a response to a potential pandemic are still labeled as "crying wolf." Remember the moral of this childhood parable: no one in his community responded when the real wolf arrived, and, alas, the aforementioned crier met his untimely demise.

So what can we learn from this year's minor league game? The yearly flu vaccine is a best guess and was wrong this year.  No one practices social distancing. The virus spreads at the speed of air travel. No one knows what the symptoms are and as a result spread the disease by coming to work when the virus is at its peak of communicability. The loss of productivity does have an economic impact.  Working moms do stay home to care for sick family members.  People still attend large group gatherings bringing the hitchhiker viruses to a whole new group.  The virus does weaken the immune system and ushers in pneumonia and other bacterial caused lung diseases.  People do die from complications of influenza. 

Oh yeah, avian influenza is still killing people worldwide.  

 

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