In 2009, Van Ranst served as Belgium’s flu commissioner, in charge of managing crisis communication. To audible and admiring guffaws, Van Ranst told his corps d’elite audience how to stage a pandemic: “You have one opportunity to do it right. You have to go for one voice, one message. . . . You have to be omnipresent that first day or days, so you attract media attention . . . and they’re not going to search for alternative voices.” He explained that “talking about fatalities is important because . . . people say wow, what do you mean, people die because of influenza? That was a necessary step
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