There are a lot of reasons to encourage and facilitate telecommuting. Preparedness should be #1 and reason enough.

A concerted effort among private and public sector employers to have as many workers as possible telecommute one day a week would have many benefits: 1) save fuel; 2) alleviate traffic congestion, and; 3) prepare those entities for full-time telecommuting in an emergency such as a pandemic.

The first step to contain a pandemic should be closing schools. That's a lot of working parents -- many of them single -- suddenly needing to stay home to care for them.

Everyone involved in pandemic planning should read Stephen King's "The Stand." That military-devised superflu is the ultimate worst-case scenario -- far, far beyond normal worst-case pandemic models -- but the rapid societal breakdown is instructive. The creepiness of it is highly motivating.

In fact, I've given it to a couple.

And this reminds me that more N95 masks would be a good plan for my home, office and car.