my guess is that air travel will have some restrictions, but of course that depends on how bad it seems to be and how widespread it is in various countries. It is is carried by migratory birds and if it is easily passed from bird to human or to another animal (pig) to human, it would seem to a measure that might just delay the inevitable.
There might also be a restriction on imports from affected countries (read China, much of Asia) if it can be establsihed that the virus has a shelf-life on plain surfaces and objects (not that likely but possible).
Of course if it gets bad, there will not be many people turning up for work so these processes stop anyway.
But you can imagine that a panademic that tends to hit older people in the community as most cold viruses tend to do, will have quite an impact on the ageing population of the west, particular in old-folks homes and in hospitals. This might be thought of being a plus by some politicians worried about meeting retirement and health-care liabilities for an ageing population. You might expect to see a large number of deceased estates being settled eventually.
As far as I seem to recall, the strain of virus also seems to have an high proportional impact on quite young people.
There was a quite reasonable novel I read a number of years ago that detailed just this scenario, a flu virus mutating from a bird virus into a deadly human transmissable form. The quick breakdown of society was one of the major focus of the story, as was the rise of gangster groups who managed the orderly disposal of the bodies, something that very quickly becomes very important. THE THIRD PANDEMIC - Pierre Ouellette A bit dated, but I enjoyed it at the time.
