A flu pandemic could potentially affect 300,000 Rhode Islanders within two months, killing 6,600 in a worst-case scenario, the statewide Pandemic Flu Working Group said last week.
According to the Pandemic Flu Emergency Response Plan, an outbreak could cost the state as much as $643 million, with $540 million going toward health care costs and up to 50 percent of the state’s work force being forced to stay home.
“In the early weeks of a pandemic, every person infected with the virus will infect two or three additional people, until about 30 [percent] of the population becomes ill,” the plan’s executive summary states.
With an estimated time to produce and distribute a flu vaccine of six months, Gov. Donald L. Carcieri called on the group to develop a plan to meet the challenge, placing R.I. Department of Health Director David Gifford and Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Robert J. Warren in charge of the effort.
The plan calls for splitting Rhode Island into 10 areas with a different hospital providing service to each one.
The response plan also develops preparations to keep government and businesses running in the event of an outbreak, with a Feb. 1 deadline set for state and municipal agencies to complete their contingency plans.
