Stratfor ran an article a while back saying that the risk was small. Nonetheless, a pandemic is still a major concern. The hurricane, ironically, has set the standard for what people expect from their government in times of crisis.
In the meantime, a decent civil defense strategy is a perfectly reasonable action to respond to a small but significant strategic threat.
When it comes to a threat of avian influenza,this region has an extremely reliable defense stategy - I've seen it in action and it is a truly amazing cooperative effort between the public and private sectors in 3 states. Granted the effort is primarily to protect the economic interests of those involved, but it also does protect the public health.