A plan encompassing 205 pages has been prepared by the state of Tennessee, setting the way in which thousands of health care workers and others should deal with a virus that might spread faster than it would be possible to contain it. Although no expert can pinpoint an exact moment when the virus will rapidly spread beyond Asia and hit the United States during a world pandemic, measures are being taken nationwide to prevent this from happening. The state’s plan deals with the way patients should be placed under quarantine, how vaccine should be distributed and to whom and the way agencies should coordinate their efforts. Exercises are being planned for the following winter and the local effort must be in tune with the national one.
Predictions say 3 in every 10 inhabitants of Tennessee would be infected by the virus and the death toll could be between 4,000 and 38,000. About 900,000 people could seek outpatient care, and almost 200,000 might require hospitalization. Medical treatment for the disease is still to be researched and produced, but in the meantime, it’s comforting to see local and state authorities take actions against such an unfortunate event.
