Business leaders and public relations professionals should continue to monitor signs of Ebola hysteria. The damage to the reputation and revenue of your organization is real. It can come from a direct Ebola contamination to one of your employees or customers. In the case of public institutions like schools, the institution could face a costly shut down or closure.

Since outlining how real or imagined Ebola threats could trigger your crisis communications and crisis management plans, in last Friday’s Ebola webinar, the weekend revealed more examples. (Click here to listen to the webinar) A customer/passenger aboard a Carnival cruise ship out of Galveston was identified as having been in contact with lab samples from the deceased Dallas Ebola patient.

Listen to the re-broadcast

The crisis cascade of events included the ship being turned away from Belize and Mexico, plus the closure of a school in Moore, Oklahoma, because a student was on the same cruise ship as the hospital worker from Dallas. Not only did each of those institutions or governments need to communicate, but so did various ports of entry and various emergency response or decontamination companies. And while this ship sailed from Galveston, every port city in America could have just as easily found themselves in the same position as the Port of Galveston. Likewise, any school in America could be forced to make the same decisions as Moore, Oklahoma.

Are we seeing too much hysteria? Is the threat real or imagined? In my expert opinion, it doesn’t matter because either a real threat or an imagined threat can trigger both your crisis management plan and your crisis communications plan. Either a real threat or an imagined threat can damage the reputation and revenue of your organization.

Should you take steps today to prepare or should you wait and see? My mantra is be prepared. Use this potential crisis as an opportunity to set aside time on a clear sunny day to prepare your plan and your crisis communications should you need it on your darkest day.

Should you prepare only for Ebola or should you prepare for everything? My mantra is to do it all at once. You can have a comprehensive crisis management and crisis communications plan that is completed today and ready to be used for years to come.

Doing it right is always the path of least resistance.

By Gerard Braud