HR: Confused over Swine Flu

In HR Executive (06/02/2009) an article discusses the "Swine Flu Blues." Just since the publication of this, WHO has raised the level of the illness to a full fledged world pandemic -- and in Milwaukee, a third death was reported.

Comment: But I'm confused. As of May 12, there were 5,720 people infected with 58 deaths in 33 countries. In the U.S. 3009, cases and three deaths (now at least 4). In the article discussing this, HR and legal experts that if the situation worsens, HR will have a "big job," creating policies to ensure the safety of employees and making arrangements for "large scale" absenteeism of employees. But I'm confused. Regular seasonal influenza forces more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States and 30,000 deaths annually. Why are we suddenly calling for "making plans" when the data suggests we should have had them a long time ago -- on a regular basis for something that is -- and has been -- significantly more influential on our employees and productivity.