Based on interviews last week with 13 CIOs, business continuity directors and IT management consultants, U.S. companies continue to hold widely divergent views on the risk that a flu outbreak could force school closings or broad quarantines in hard-hit areas.

Some IT leaders, mainly at large companies, said they are preparing for the worst in an effort to avoid being left short-staffed or unable to support vastly increased numbers of telecommuters on their networks if a pandemic strikes.

For example, Beneficial Financial Group in Salt Lake City "is seriously looking into the pandemic issue," said CIO Steve Terry. "Since we are a life insurance company, [being prepared] makes sense for us. We have to have the capability to continue doing business if there is a pandemic."

In contrast, several other CIOs said the possibility of a major flu outbreak isn't that big of concern for them, despite warnings dating back to early last year from the federal government, international groups and consulting firms such as Gartner Inc.

"I don't view [pandemic preparations] as that important," said Amy Fowler, president of the Colorado chapter of the Society for Information Management and an IT management consultant to large companies. "What are the odds of [a long quarantine] happening? We have bigger issues in IT than that one."