Are you ready for the next pandemic? Is your workplace? Is your community?

A pandemic is the global outbreak of a disease for which there is little immunity within the human population. The H1N1 virus has proven the pandemic threat omnipresent. Although the symptoms of H1N1 were mild, the next pandemic’s makeup could be more deadly.

Thankfully, North Haven has taken proactive steps against the threat, including the recent participation of First Selectman Janet McCarty and Community Services Director Gerardo Sorkin in the Quinnipiac Valley Health District’s July 29 pandemic mitigation workshop.

The seminar, held in the Hamden library auditorium, showcased pandemic survival measures for the two dozen local business and government leaders in attendance. “What do we do if we don’t have that drug or vaccination,” presenter Charles Brown asked the crowd rhetorically.

Brown, of the Connecticut Association of Directors of Health, answered that the most effective form of pandemic survival was “community mitigation,” a coordinated effort from all fronts of the community.

Without community mitigation, a severe pandemic can swiftly cripple an uncooperative area. “A pandemic hits hard quickly if you don’t do anything,” Brown said. “It can overwhelm a hospital.”

Brown explained the nightmarish situation that could paralyze the community unprepared for a pandemic. Public schools would be forced to close, sending sick children home. Parents would have to decide whether to remain at work or take time off to tend to their ill kids. If the adults themselves become sick, they would then have to take time off from work or risk infecting coworkers. However, adults may not be able to afford time off from work. Also, businesses may not be able to remain afloat if large portions of the staff are out sick.

Next, the home-ridden individuals may seek social functions, be it the mall or the movies, where they stand to further spread the disease. Malls, movies, and other nonessential businesses that attract crowds may be forced to close to contain the pandemic.

Lastly, the pandemic would knock out the staff of the essential businesses, such as the gas stations, the electric company, the senior center, and the food stores.

The aforementioned worst-case scenario is caused by a rapidly spreading pandemic, Brown said, one which affects a large and uncoordinated populace in a small timeframe. As the number of those affected would spike all at once, the disease would shut down a dangerous percentage of the workforce, perhaps causing an economic and production blackout. Adding to this, Brown said, is that there is no means to stop a pandemic, as by definition no antidote exists at the time of its spread.

Fortunately, Brown said, there are proactive and responsive measures that will blunt a pandemic’s damages. Specifically, these measures would prolong the damages over a longer timeframe, lessoning their immediate impact on the community. These measures are born from community mitigation.

The basics of community mitigation are common sense, Brown stated. These principals include isolating the sick or potentially sick, self-shielding such as the use of surgical masks, school cancellations, hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and avoiding population density. However, these basics necessitate that individuals make weighty decisions and that many people adhere to specific, sometimes unpleasant steps.

The beginning of any business, town, community, or religious organization’s response to a pandemic is that entity’s chain of command taking control, Brown said. In a business, the health partner, clinical director, or CEO will disseminate information and procedures to employees. In a school system, the superintendent will oversee school cancellations and student procedures. As a school system is part of the community, the superintendent will also receive information from both the town CEO and the local health district director.

The latter scenario played out recently in North Haven, as the town dealt with the arrival of the H1N1 virus. McCarty, Superintendent Sara-Jane Querfeld, and QVHD Director of Health Leslie Balch cooperated to conceive proactive measures before the local advent of the H1N1 virus. The trio also worked together to quell the virus’ damages once cases were discovered within town.

Querfeld enacted precautionary measures in the school system, upping the buildings’ cleanliness and educating students and parents. The First Selectman, who holds a Ph.D. in virology from Harvard University, said that the town’s first step against H1N1 was a mock meeting to discuss a hypothetical emergency pandemic situation within town. “We held a ‘fire drill’ in May when the disease first came out,” McCarty said. “All of the department heads met.”

Once the hypothetical situation became factual – albeit not nearly as severe as imagined – McCarty acted in tandem with Querfeld and Balch to release pertinent information and make the necessary decisions.

“We wanted to keep people aware that if they feel sick, they should just stay home,” McCarty said. “That doesn’t mean go to the mall or the movies.”

“Our main concern was that people not panic,” McCarty added, “and that they take the easy precautions.”

The easy precautions, as outlined in information distributed by Balch and sent home to students and their parents by Querfeld, reiterated the community mitigation basics, including personal hygiene like washing hands and respiratory etiquette such as covering coughs. After consultation from McCarty and Balch, Querfeld kept the schools open, a decision shown to be correct as the disease did not spread wildly among students.

The efforts of the three women are exemplary– the town successfully weathered the H1N1 virus, which has so far slipped innocuously through North Haven. It is easy to imagine that if the disease sees resurgence in the fall when the schools recommence, the town will again be prepared to limit the impact.

Although the North Haven public schools were never closed for fear of H1N1, McCarty, Querfeld, and Balch were all ready to send students home if necessary. This resolution represents the next step in pandemic mitigation – proactive and responsive measures to limit population density.

The disease spreads more quickly among groups of individuals in closer quarters. Therefore, Brown said, large gatherings should be avoided during a time of pandemic.

The common workplace is an obvious destination for congregation. Brown stated that businesses must proactively formulate anti-pandemic plans and share them with local health departments.

“If a business has no plan,” he said, “then they wouldn’t be allowed to be open during a pandemic.”

These plans may include means to stagger work hours as to limit the number of individuals within the workplace at once. Brown also said that telecommunication could be utilized, a method obviously limited by bandwidth and other technological capacities.

Businesses themselves must be educated on safe practices, including being lenient on the ill.

“There should be no punitive action taken against employees,” Brown said. “Sick people should not come back too soon.”

Unfortunately, there are certain businesses whose output, if negatively affected, places many in discomfort or risk. This includes pharmacies, grocery stores, gas stations the electric companies, as well as religious institutions and senior centers.

For some, Brown said, staggered work hours may be the only solution, including gas stations and electrical companies. For others, there are specific procedures to continue operations. Pharmacies may be able to close their counter but retain their drive through window. Supermarkets could remain open 24-hours a day, Brown said, and advertise the extra hours, as to decrease customer density. Grocery store employee density could be lessoned if self-check out lines are expanded.

Brown added that many supermarkets have already increased their efforts for employment sanitation, including escalating the use of plastic gloves and hand sanitizers.

Houses of worship and senior centers may have to alter their ways of functioning, according to Brown. “They need to talk about how they would survive,” he said. “Some populations rely on those programs, and if they close, those people may not eat.”

For churches, Brown recommended producing podcast, radio, or television worships. He also said that priests may have to meet on an individual basis, rather than head a congregation.

Brown suggested that churches and senior centers that feed the needy should explore Meals on Wheels and other food delivery services. “It may be that you have to drop meals off at people’s doorsteps,” he said.

On senior centers, Brown added that they should begin educating their membership immediately on pandemic survival measures. “Show them the other resources for them to use if the center is closed,” he said.

The next part of community mitigation is media cooperation. The H1N1 scare was undeniably worsened by the media’s sensationalistic portrayal of the pandemic. Brown suggested that the media become more of a fact-giver, working in connection with towns, health districts, and business public information officers to consistently spread accurate information.

“On a local level, it should be ‘here is what the citizen can actually use,’” Brown said of the media’s role in community mitigation. He added that local health districts should also be dispensing information. The QVHD has continued to educate the district, including holding the seminar and promoting safe practices.

“We have been getting the word out that we all need to work on our preparedness,” Balch said of the QVHD. “Our simple message that we have been getting out is that we need to wash our hands, cover our coughs, stay home when ill, and avoid sick people.”

“We have been working as resources,” Balch added. “We are willing to sit down with organizations who want to discuss what they can do.”

The final part of community mitigation resides in the individual resident. It is one thing to intake advice on remaining healthy – it is another to work together with one’s community to enact mitigation measures.