The study has some relevant limitations that must be factored into the overall analysis. First, the sample was limited to three non-randomly selected health departments, none of which serves a community larger than 250,000 residents, and all of which have staff sizes under 250. The sample size of 308 survey employees limited this study's power. As the study includes Maryland health departments only, it does not account for potential jurisdictional or regional variations nationwide in response capacity or risk perceptions toward pandemic influenza response. Furthermore, the job classifications -based on those used to develop the CDC-adopted emergency preparedness competencies [15] -do not necessarily map neatly onto functional responsibilities in disaster Odds Ratios of reporting to work in case of a pandemic-influenza-related emergency by staff and attitude or belief construct Figure 2 Odds Ratios of reporting to work in case of a pandemic-influenza-related emergency by staff and attitude or belief construct. 