Employers would be urged to let people telecommute, regularly clean buildings — flu viruses can live on hard surfaces for 48 hours — and advise workers to avoid shaking hands and stand 3 feet apart, out of sneeze range.

"I want to be careful not to panic people," cautioned Frances Townsend, Bush's White House homeland security adviser. "First of all, a human pandemic has not begun, and we cannot say whether or not a pandemic will begin."

But by assuming a worst-case scenario — up to 2 million U.S. deaths, and up to 40 percent of the work force off the job for several weeks — the government hopes to have enough contingency plans to limit social and economic chaos if a severe pandemic strikes, and to energize private sector preparations.

A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found only one in 10 Americans was doing anything to plan for an outbreak.

The report takes important steps in improving the nation's readiness, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease specialist who has advised the federal government on flu preparations.

But, he said, the private sector provides 85 percent of essential services, such as food and medicines — and it will take federal intervention to avoid "an incredible domino effect" of failed services if one of those cogs breaks down.

Osterholm cited closed-door discussions where oil refinery executives have said they physically can't operate if 30 percent of their workers are out. Communities' plans for shipping food would disintegrate if there's no fuel.

Up to 80 percent of medicines — not just for flu, but for other diseases — use at least some ingredients manufactured offshore, he added, putting production and delivery into question.

He said the report made clear that the private sector needs to plan, "but we need federal coordination around that."

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On the Net: White House plan: www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/pandemic-influenza-implementation.html