A set of questions revolves around how much businesses should spend on preparations. These steps include the cross-training of employees or installing new networking technology for telecommuting. The cost benefits analysis approach to justify expenditure on the Infectious Disease preparation may not be easily quantified. The investment should be an executive management’s decision as it involves the lives and safety of people.
These are the steps for preparing an Infectious Disease BC plan:
The three key questions to be addressed by any strategy for tackling the Infectious Disease in an organisation is:
Even before COVID-19, The threat of a global disease outbreak had gradually began to be the focus of senior management, business communities, and governments. There is a need to think of the unthinkable.
SARS affected Asia in 2003. Following the SARS outbreak is the impending list of other types of a flu pandemic. I believe that this will be the beginning of many epidemics. Pandemic and infectious disease threats. All organisations should have included Infectious Disease BC planning in their list of crisis management plans. With the advent of COVID-19, that inclusion is now mandatory for any sane organisation that wants to remain prepared and vigilant.
Although specific information on the avian flu (e.g. characteristics and transmission mode) may become obsolete, the fundamental principles of the Infectious Disease BC plan will remain unchanged. I am also confident that businesses will continue to find new ways and develop new strategies to combat this threat.
One major fear from the BC perspective is “bioterrorism.” A bioterrorism attack is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, germs agents used to cause illness to people, animals or plants. According to CDC, the likelihood of the threat is low, but the impact is high.
As a Business Continuity planner, the next pandemic or infectious disease outbreak will always be around the corner, defunct illness such as Magdeburg, Smallpox, and “black death” may very well return shortly, spilled out from a lab with the last samples existing on earth. It starts with an epidemic and when it becomes a pandemic, the world will then being to pay attention.
Alternatively, if an existing pandemic goes on for too long, new strains will start to emerge., Even at the time of writing this in 2021, COVID-19 has mutated into at least six aggressive strains (and counting!), each other more virulent and infectious than the original. While none of the existing strains has risen above our existing vaccines, there remains a chance for it to do so as new strains continue to develop.
The key is to have an infectious disease BC plan that is flexible to adapt to any new strain or defunct diseases.
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Goh, M. H. (2016). A Manager’s Guide to Implement Your Infectious Disease Business Continuity Plan, 2nd Edition. GMH Pte Ltd.