Who’s thinking about the bird flu?

Churches are, to name one group. This WaPo article of a few days ago caught my attention because it’s so…off the radar of most folks. And it’s in the Faith section.

Fairfax County houses of worship are starting to plan for the unthinkable but possible: a pandemic flu that could sweep the country, sickening and killing millions.

More than 125 leaders from churches, synagogues, temples and mosques met recently at the Fairfax County Government Center to grapple with questions ranging from the practical to the theological as they began preparing their communities for the possibility of a flu outbreak.

Sounds like religious leaders are ahead of the curve…if there still is one. Which is heartening, because they’re looking at the full impact a disaster like this would have on people – body, mind and soul. And they are uniquely prepared to handle emergencies, which faith-based initiatives have proven so successful for the government when allowed.

Think about their advantages…

Houses of worship could play a crucial role in managing such an epidemic, say religious leaders and health officials, because they have such large constituencies and are intimately involved in the daily life of the community. Not only are they gathering places for hundreds of thousands of parishioners and groups such as Scouts and senior citizens, but they also minister to the disadvantaged.

It is “a substantial religious network that, if properly organized with the right kind of spirit, can have a tremendous positive impact on helping to do our part to ensure domestic tranquility,” said Lewis Saylor, a member of Faith Communities in Action, a coalition of diverse religious organizations that organized the meeting last month with the Fairfax County Health Department and the county’s Community Interfaith Office.

I wonder if religious organizations around the country are holding strategy sessions like Fairfax County’s. Because if they’re not, we’d sure be better prepared if they did.

The meeting comes as public officials step up preparations for a possible flu pandemic, which could occur if an influenza virus mutates into a deadly version for which vaccines and drugs are not immediately available…

Health officials have painted a vivid portrait of life in the grip of a massive flu outbreak. They envision waves of the illness possibly breaking over the population for as long as 18 months, affecting one-third of the population. Nationally, as many as 207,000 people could die in a “medium-level” pandemic and up to 47 million people could become sick, they say.

Here’s what I think. This is an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ threat that virtually doesn’t exist for any Americans – or any population around the world – where no imminent danger is in sight. But there’s a much larger news story here, and this WaPo article is a fascinating lead to it.