Not sure what H1N1 means when it comes to your meeting? Join the crowd. While news reports seem to spread panic about the pandemic, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and medical experts advise a calmer, more sensible response. For meeting planners, this means:

1. Know the facts.
2. Develop a plan.
3. Share the facts.

Dr. Jonathan Spero with InHouse Physicians broke these points down in a Webinar presented by Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

The facts:
• H1N1 is a pandemic by definition only, not because it is highly deadly, which it is not. It is a new virus so there is limited immunity (mainly in those people over 55-60 years old). It is highly contagious, because it can spread easily from person-to-person (as opposed to the deadlier avian flu, which is not contagious). It has spread globally.

• The symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza, though 20 percent of those afflicted have no fever). The death rate is low (1-5 out of 1,000; same as with seasonal flu. Avian flu had a 60% death rate or six out of 10 people afflicted). Where H1N1 differs from seasonal flu is that the elderly have some immunity and the highest rate of complications and hospitalizations are in the young.

• It has raised alarm because of the potential to infect a large percentage of the population, which could severely impair the public health system and the economy, and because it can mutate.

So what can you do?

Develop a 2-part plan, detailing prevention procedures and contingency plans, and make sure you communicate with senior management and event sponsors:

• Assess the risk — the physical risk to your attendees, which in most cases will be low, except to pregnant participants, and the financial risk to the business of the event, e.g., people dropping out, sick attendees needing to change travel arrangements, etc.

• Put basic prevention measures in place. Make sure there is easy access to plenty of hand sanitizers onsite (order self-dispensing stands, not touch dispensers). If possible, ask venue manager to wipe down high-contact surfaces in all common spaces daily.

• Deliver pre-conference information to attendees: If they are sick, stay home. If someone in the household is sick, stay home.

• Develop your monitoring and reporting system. How will you notify people if there is an outbreak? Dr. Spero suggests you carry out a tabletop exercise with all staff and stakeholders, e.g.. “We have a key meeting in January. What are we going to do if there is an outbreak of H1N1 at the meeting?”

• Determine what your policies and procedures will be for managing ill attendees. How will you handle social distancing? (CDC currently recommends up to 5 days isolation.) How will you deal with privacy issues? (Dr. Spero advises planners to involve HR early, if possible, as these managers are familiar with HIPAA privacy laws.) How will you make arrangements for extending room nights and changing transportation schedules?

• Put a medical treatment plan in place. The emergency room is not going to be your best default procedure, says Dr. Spero, who predicts emergency rooms are going to be a nightmare this winter, with hundreds of sick people contributing to waits of more than six hours and the further spread of the virus. “They’ll be expensive petri dishes,” he says.

• Hotels may be able to help with advance plans as many have been proactive in developing procedures for sick guests and have sophisticated pandemic systems in place that include food handlers and room staff.

For meetings of more than 400-500 attendees, Dr. Spero recommends extra steps, mainly having a vendor on property that can provide support for those who fall ill.

More information is available from the CDC. For background information, visit cdc.gov/flu/. For current status updates, visit cdc.gov/H1N1flu/.

The money will be used to offer fiscal incentives to tour operators, meeting planners and travel agents, such as a 50 percent reduction of costs towards the use of air space and cruise ports for the next three months. Hotels in the country have reduced rates as much as 70 percent and one hotel chain has launched a “flu-free guarantee” for most of its Mexico locations, according to a report in The New York Times.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is not restricting travel in relation to the outbreak of H1N1 Influenza, the official name of the current flu strain. Mexico is waiting for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to lift its travel warning against all nonessential travel to Mexico. U.S. visitors account for nearly 80 percent of Mexico’s international tourism market, the country’s third-largest source of revenue.

Officials are still monitoring the spread of swine flu, though they are seeing a trend in the reduction of cases. Mexico has reported 1,112 laboratory-confirmed cases and 42 deaths, according to the WHO. The Mexico Tourism Board hopes to get the all-clear to launch the trade-and-consumer campaign by mid-to-late May. Further updates to the CDC investigation and any related travel recommendations will be posted on CDC.gov/travel when available.

Spring break is over and the brief lift it offered the travel industry was short-lived. At the end of April, the already hard-hit industry was scrambling to respond to the early repercussions of swine flu outbreaks in several countries, including the U.S.

“Travelers, like all citizens, should heed the advice of experts when determining how best to manage health concerns,” cautioned Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association (TIA), in a statement issued April 27 that emphasized the fact that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had not discouraged people from traveling to or within this country. “We must address the situation with measured, pragmatic responses so as not to cause panic and negative consequences to the economy if health risks are not imminent.”

Airlines were scrambling to handle flight cancellations and refund requests even before the CDC issued an advisory recommending that U.S. travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico. The CDC’s response followed that of the European Union, which issued a travel warning after the first case of swine flu was confirmed in Europe on Monday, urging Europeans to avoid trips to both the U.S. or Mexico. The World Health Organization declared the flu a “public health emergency of international concern” that could become a pandemic, meaning a global outbreak of a serious disease.

Early reports put the number of dead at 103 in Mexico. Dozens of people in the U.S. and Canada tested positive for swine flu, however, only two of the cases in the U.S. required hospitalization and all recovered. The CDC said it is still in the early stages of its investigations.

With the impact of this latest crisis on travel and meetings still uncertain, some businesses were fast to find an up side. A story on Forbes.com, “Virtually Flu-Free Meetings,” reported that companies providing specialized telepresence networking technology expected to benefit from the health threat, as travelers cancel in-person meetings due to health worries. “Disasters drove the video conference business,” said Polycom Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Hagerty, referring primarily to Sept. 11, 2001, and the SARS scare. In the current economic climate, virtual meetings were already replacing offsite meetings as companies and other organizations cut travel budgets.

Further updates to the CDC swine flu investigation and any related travel recommendations will be posted on CDC.gov/travel when available.

If you are planning travel to Mexico, the CDC has issued recommendations to reduce the risk of infection.

If you have specific questions about the swine influenza cases visit the CDC or call 1-800-232-4636, which is 1-800-CDC-INFO.

The U.S. Travel Association is posting updates on USTravel.org.