Purdue Prepares for Potential Pandemic

A major U.S. university has announced it is finalizing plans as to how it will prepare for, and react to, an influenza pandemic.

Purdue University’s planning committee, led by Carol Shelby, senior director of environmental health and public safety, and James Westman, director of the Purdue Student Health Center, prepared the plans.

The committee, among other things, is deciding how Purdue would feed its students if no mass gatherings are allowed, the manner in which a potential quarantine would be handled, how health services would be staffed around the clock, how buildings would be maintained, and how to maintain animal care and continue research projects.

All university offices have been asked to identify essential personnel who would need access to campus in the event of a quarantine.

The committee said the Internet would be an important source of information for faculty, staff and students and the university’s Office of Information Technology is developing plans for redundant servers.