The Howard County Health Department Strategic Pandemic Influenza Plan, drafted in February 2007, was designed to supplement the existing Emergency Operations Plan, according to the department's Web site.

A chart included in the document estimates the havoc that moderate and severe influenza pandemics might wreak on the county, based on historical data.

In either a moderate or a severe pandemic, about 30 percent of the population would become ill, or about 80,000 people, and about half of that group would seek outpatient care, the chart shows.

Nearly 800 would be hospitalized in a moderate pandemic and almost 200 would die. In a severe outbreak, nearly 9,000 people would become inpatients and 1,700 would die.

"People will be scared, there will be concerns, and our response won't be as super smooth" as it's been during practices, county Health Officer Peter Beilenson said.

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