Jakarta Pandemic, The (3 page)

“Sucks to be you today,” Kate taunted.

“Let’s hope not,” Alex said as he walked over to fix some breakfast.

“Seven o’clock. Turn on the
Morning View
,” Kate said to him.

Alex found the remote and turned on the kitchen TV, just in time to see the host appear on the screen. “Someone better say something about the fact that the Chinese sat on this for two days.”

“
Good morning, on Friday, November 2nd. The news dominating the thoughts of all Americans today comes to us from Southeast Asia, where the evidence of a growing pandemic virus is mounting. Earlier this morning, Chinese government officials verified that an unidentified flu strain has caused several major outbreaks in the southern coastal regions of China.”

“Turn it up, honey, I can’t hear over that frigging Military Channel,” Kate said.

Alex raised his voice, “Ryan, can you turn that down? We’re trying to listen to something important about the world over here.”

Kate responded first, “Are you seriously going to get into it with him again? Just turn up the volume, please, we’ll miss the whole segment by the time you two figure it out.”

Alex shook his head and raised the volume so he could hear the host clearly.

“Thomas McGreggor from the Department of Health and Human Services joins us this morning to shed some light on these developments. Mr. McGreggor, welcome.”

“Thank you, Matt.”

“One of the Department of Health and Human Services’ major roles is to implement the national strategy to prevent or slow a pandemic’s entry into the United States, and to limit the domestic spread of the disease. That sounds like a monumental task, and frankly, some experts just don’t think it’s possible for a single department to accomplish these goals. They argue that very few of the recommendations in the plan have been implemented. Some experts cite a compliance rate of less than ten percent with the plan’s recommendation at local levels, and it appears that little money is flowing down from Washington.”

“Certainly these critics like to point fingers at Washington whenever they can, but a pandemic is a complex emergency, requiring an effective and coordinated response on many levels. The bulk of the costs occur once the pandemic strikes, and when this occurs, each state will receive disaster level funding to ensure continuity of pandemic response operations.”

Matt shifted in his seat to respond.

“Let me read directly from the DHS manual. ‘Ideally, states develop a multilayered strategy that delineates responsibilities at all levels of society to ensure the viability of government functions and essential services.’ This sounds like an expensive proposition. My parents’ hometown can barely scrape together enough money to repair winter damage to its roads. Where will towns and cities get the money to implement these preparations?”

“Well, first, I don’t agree with the statistics that claim only six percent of the national plan is implemented. We’ve seen amazing progress throughout the nation, without reliance on more federal money. An appropriate level of funding is available at all levels for implementation of the plan.”

“I hope you’re right, because the situation in China has health officials concerned that the world might be on the verge of a deadly pandemic.”

“Matt, the United States is in good hands. Since the 2008 Avian Flu pandemic, our nation’s pandemic response capability has been vastly improved. From vaccination production and research capability, to anti-viral stockpiling. We learned from 2008 and applied those lessons to the national plan in place today.”

“So given the events unfolding in Asia, what is DHS’s primary concern at the moment, and what part of the national plan is being implemented?”

“We are working in close coordination with the CDC and WHO to receive real-time information regarding all aspects of the crisis. Our number one priority will be to prevent this disease from entering and spreading in the United States. Currently there is no indication that the disease has spread to the United States, though we have activated passive foreign traveler detection protocols. Customs officials have been alerted to identify and track any foreign travelers that appear ill.”

“Is this for real?” Alex said to no one in particular. “It’s already here. How could he not know that? Full of shit.”

Kate silenced him with a hand signal, so she could hear the rest of the segment.

“Will these travelers be detained?”
Matt asked
.

“Not under passive protocols. Active protocols will be implemented when it is certain that a pandemic grade illness is headed to our borders. As you can imagine, implementing active protocols represents a significant resource deployment. We want to be certain before committing to that kind of a massive response.”

“Has DHS considered the possibility that the disease has already entered the U.S. in considerable numbers? The ISPAC website indicates that it may have already hit the west coast.”

“We’ve definitely considered this, and fortunately, the number of passengers traveling to the U.S from China within a three day period is small. We are tracking all of these passengers and taking steps to ensure that if any of them are sick with this disease, they will be identified immediately. We feel confident that the disease is limited to China right now, and thanks to the Chinese government, the information is flowing much more efficiently than in 2008. And to address the ISPAC website, keep in mind that none of their figures are official CDC or WHO statistics. If the flu arrives in the U.S., we’ll know first.”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Alex said, clicking the TV off.

Kate stifled a laugh. “That guy didn’t sound very convincing,” she commented.

“If this guy represents the government’s attitude toward the situation, then we’re screwed.”

“Looks like your day is most assuredly going to suck,” Kate said, wearing an overly fake sympathetic face.

“Yeah, I really need to get rolling here.”

Chapter Three

Friday, November 1, 2013

Alex sipped a hot cappuccino and admired the trees that flanked Route One just north of Falmouth’s commercial center. After supplying Mercy Hospital’s emergency room with at least ten times the amount of TerraFlu drug samples he was currently authorized to distribute, he picked up a capuccino and decided to take a scenic drive north toward Yarmouth. It was a little late for peak leaf peeping, but he wasn’t disappointed. Dense marvels of orange, red and brown still served as the foreground for a stark blue sky.

As he left Falmouth, he wondered how many people in town knew about the flu case in their midst.

Probably not very many. They’re keeping this quiet for now.

During his visit to the ER, nobody had mentioned the flu case that Dr. Wright said had passed through their doors the night before, and he hadn’t seen any unusual signs of activity inside the ER. Not wanting to compromise his source of information, Alex resisted every urge to push for information. The only thing out of order was a single police officer stationed at the ER entrance, chatting with hospital security. He had been through these doors over a hundred times, and this was the first time he’d ever seen an officer posted at the hospital.

Alex entered Yarmouth and passed through the business district. A few minutes later, he saw a modern, two-story medical office complex come into view on his left. He activated the left turn signal and cruised over the yellow median into the Yarmouth Medical Building’s parking lot.

Parking in front of Yarmouth Family Practice Associates, Alex started to open his car door just as his smartphone buzzed in the center console tray. The screen read “Mike G.” Mike Gallagher was his Portland sales colleague and one of a few good friends at Biosphere Pharmaceuticals.

“Hey, Mikey.”

“I saw you called earlier. What’s up?” Mike said.

“I got a call from Dr. Wright last night. Late. He said that several suspected cases of the mystery flu rolled in last night. Three of them at Maine Med, one at Mercy and a few cases scattered up north. He said that one of the cases is a guy from Falmouth. The others are from Westbrook and Portland,” Alex said.

“Jesus, already? Fucking Falmouth?”

“Yeah, but what’s worse is that he also said the hospitals down in Boston started seeing cases late Wednesday night. A friend of his at Mass General called him Thursday morning and told him the cases started trickling in on Wednesday night and have continued ever since. I scoured the Boston papers on the internet, but didn’t see shit about it.”

“They probably want to be one hundred percent before they start running stories about the flu, right?”

“I don’t know. Dr. Wright also said that they were told by the state to sit on the information for now. Only report to the state. He was told the state would disseminate the information to the feds. I was in Mercy this morning, and they didn't say a word. Nothing. There was a real cop at the door.”

“No shit. What did he mean by ‘sit on it’?” Mike asked.

“He said they were told to keep the media out of it until further notice. To avoid a bum rush of the system I guess,” Alex answered.

“First case in Falmouth, of all places. I need to get Colleen and the kids out of the school.”

“I definitely think you should keep your kids out of the schools at a minimum, and your wife needs to get out of the classroom, at least for a couple of days until they can figure out what’s going on with this thing. Can you convince her to take a few days off?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know. I think I can convince her to let the kids stay home, but she just started teaching at the high school last year. It’s near impossible to get a job at the high school level in Falmouth. She’s afraid to do anything to piss them off.”

“I can imagine. Just make sure she plays it smart. Give her one of those stupid patient education handouts about washing hands, and send her to school with a case of Biosphere hand sanitizer bottles,” Alex added.

“Yeah, because we all know a little hand sanitizer will stop the flu in its tracks,” Mike said sarcastically.

“Better than nothing.”

“I don’t know. I need to give her a call, man. I’ll call you later.”

“Yep,” Alex said and put down his phone.

He got out of the car and walked around to the back of his company car, a hybrid Subaru Forrester, to open the hatchback. He pulled a black nylon sales bag from the rear cargo area and slung the padded carry strap over his shoulder. The strap pulled down on his suit coat, exposing most of the white dress shirt on his right shoulder, so he adjusted the bag and his jacket. Alex stood behind his car for a moment, enjoying the warm breeze blowing across the parking lot. The winters in Maine were long enough for him to fully appreciate the gift of a seventy-degree day in early November. He took a deep breath and headed for the entrance.

“This should be interesting,” he whispered to himself.

**

Twenty minutes later, he emerged from the office and glanced at his watch.
10:15. Not bad for a morning’s work.
He could make a few more sales calls in Yarmouth before grabbing an early lunch, but he wasn’t feeling particularly motivated in light of the brewing pandemic. He was fairly sure this would be his last day calling on doctors. If the current situation escalated into a full blown pandemic, the last place he’d want to visit would be a medical office. He stowed his sales bag and climbed into the company car. He sat there for a moment, thinking about his next move, when he suddenly grabbed his smartphone. He’d forgotten to check his company voicemail when he got started that morning and would not be surprised to find a few messages from corporate headquarters regarding the crisis in China and its impact on Biosphere. In the wake of recent events, Alex anticipated some very distinct guidance regarding customer interactions.

He dialed his voicemail account and found a new message.

Conference call at 11:00. I guess I have time for one more office visit.

He placed his smartphone on the front passenger seat and started the car.

Chapter Four

Friday, November 1, 2013

Alex sat in the parking lot outside of Yarmouth Internal Medicine, a few blocks away from Yarmouth Family Practice Associates, and pressed the speed dial button with his usual teleconference number. He looked at the clock on the car. 10:59. 
Just made it.
He waited for the prompt and then entered his district conference code. Satisfied that he was connected to the right conference number, he pressed a button on his dashboard, and the call was transferred to his car’s speakers. The car resonated with a painfully uplifting Muzak version of a Pearl Jam song, which he instantly decided was a form of sacrilege.

I can’t decide if I would rather listen to this for thirty minutes or Ted.

At 11:03 the dreadful music was interrupted by the voice of Ted Stanton, his district manager.

“Good morning, team. How is everyone today?”

Most of the team members talked over each other as they attempted to be the first one to answer Ted’s question.

Same thing every time. Why do people still try to answer?

“By now, most of you have probably guessed why we are having a teleconference. Today is an exciting day for Biosphere Pharmaceuticals and an even more exciting day to be selling TerraFlu. The events unfolding in Asia provide an unprecedented opportunity for Biosphere Pharmaceuticals to position itself as a leader within the world healthcare community.”