Flu pandemic coming soon?

Until recently when I went and heard a seminar at McDonough about a possible Flu Pandemic coming soon, I never really even thought about one ever occurring. Furthermore, even after hearing about the strong possibility of one occurring I never thought of the economic effects until now. Surprisingly enough the article I reviewed didn't talk about the death toll and sickness as the main losses to our economy. Instead, this article focused on those who are not and never would be affected by the virus. For example, this article states how in a time of emergency people act in ways that are sometimes unnecessary and in the long run cause even more problems for our economy. An example was given about how after 9/11 people were taking rental cars and simply driving away without ever returning them in fear that they were being followed and had to "escape" to safety. Another example of a major crisis affecting the economy was shown in the airline industry after 9/11. Sure, in all honestly I would predict that near all if not 100% of the flights following 9/11 would be safe, but nobody (including I) was willing to take that risk and fly right away. The incident caused major airline companies to shut down having a huge effect on our economy. The economic effects on a flu pandemic would have a major effect on our society.