Towards a pandemic plan for the Church?

The WHO have upgraded the threat assessment associated with swine flu to imminent pandemic, and the first US death (of a small child) has been reported.

Reader Peter has alerted me to a story from the Catholic News Service showing that US bishops have started giving guidance on how to deal with the situation, including things like:

• ceasing to offer communion in the form of the Precious Blood for the moment;
• bowing instead of shaking hands etc at the sign of peace;
• encouraging the ill to stay at home rather than infect others by going to mass;
• making sure Extraordinary Ministers and priests wash their hands before distributing the hosts, with instructions "to use an alcohol-based anti-bacterial solution before and after distributing holy Communion."

Presumably our own bishops will shortly provide some formal guidance on this subject too.