The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Education and other federal agencies have released guidance on public health and community strategies that could delay or reduce the impact of a severe flu pandemic by limiting the spread of disease until a vaccine is available. The report, "Interim Pre-pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States -- Early, Targeted, Layered use of Nonpharmaceutical Intervention," provides the rationale for implementing non-pharmaceutical community interventions as a first line of defense, including social distancing strategies to reduce contact between people. These strategies may include: closing schools, canceling public gatherings, planning for liberal work leave policies, offering teleworking options, voluntary isolation of influenza cases and voluntary quarantine of household contacts. The report also introduces a pandemic severity index that can be used to help forecast the impact of a pandemic and to enable recommendations for mitigation based on the severity of the pandemic. Two appendices to the report -- appendix 4 and 7 -- may be of particular interest to the academic medical community as they contain planning guides for employers and for universities. For more information, please visit http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/mitigation.html.