DUBUQUE - Local and national health experts expect the H1N1 flu pandemic to get worse as the traditional flu season in late fall and winter approaches.

Now the Dubuque Department of Health is urging employers to prepare for what it says could be the next big public health crisis.

Dubuque's Public Health Specialist, Mary Rose Corrigan doesn't want to wonder what would happen if dozens of her co-workers stayed home sick, all on the same day. Instead she's planning for it.

Corrigan said, "You need to go deeper than one person back filling in for another person and what if you have to change your hours of operation."

The largest employer in Dubuque is the Dubuque Community School District, with 2,000 employees gearing up for a new school year to begin. More than 10,000 students will fill the schools this year.

District Health Supervisor Patrice Lambert says schools are considering alternative ways to teach flu stricken students.

Lambert said, "Would we be able to do web-casting for our kids assignments? Would we be able to send the assignments through the computer, so kids at home then would get caught up? "

Lambert says the district's Human Resource Department is planning to review the faculty and staff sick leave policy.

Corrigan says all businesses should be planning for the worst case scenario.

Corrigan said, "If there is a pandemic we need to plan on 30 percent of our workforce being out sick. That's doesn't mean just at your work site, it could mean at the grocery store it could mean the paper company."

She says a world-wide pandemic needs a world-wide plan. Corrigan says each county's public health department will distribute the H1N1 vaccine this fall. She says people need to get their regular flu shot as well.