Public Support for Government Actions During a Flu Pandemic: Lessons Learned From a Statewide Survey

contagious among wild birds and often domesticated birds and poultry, the H5N1 influenza strain was first detected in humans in 1997 and has killed 204 of the 332 people who have contracted it in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East (Pandemicflu.gov, 2007). Although no human cases of avian flu have been detected in the United States, the future possibility of pandemic influenza, caused by a mutation of an avian flu virus, and its poten-tial consequences, make pandemic planning a priority for public health officials and risk communicators. Previous natural and human-caused disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to the 9/11 terrorist attacks to the most recent California wildfires, have underscored the impor-tance of the general public’s adherence to government health and safety guidelines (Eisenman, Cordasco, Asch