Top > Health Watch > Health Watch Bulletin (SWINE FLU 4-30-09)
POSTED: April 30, 2009
Perelandra Health Watch Bulletin NEXT STEPS ON SWINE FLU
by Machaelle Wright
Perelandra, Center for Nature Research
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This Swine Flu thing is moving quickly, isn't it. This is exactly what happens in a buildup to a pandemic. Things happen very fast. So as far as pandemic patterns are concerned, it is fair to say that everything is developing normally. Of course, this doesn't mean we should be wandering around as if nothing was happening. "Normal" for us right now is to be alert, be smart, prepare for possible illness (get supplies in the house), think about what you'll be doing if schools in your area close, get extra food in the house . . . Considering where we are right now, this kind of focus would be normal. When I run across a good overview of what is going on, I'm going to be sending it to you. Today's good overview again comes from dailykos.com and includes some important CDC links.
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Next Steps On H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)
by DemFromCT (dailylkos.com)
Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 04:16:08 AM PDT
CDC is putting together information and public service announcements on their web site:
Right now, state health departments are concentrating on testing suspicious cases and getting a handle on the rate of spread. This is flu, and it will spread. That's what flu does. So, today, there will be more cases reported (from more states). The number matters less now, and there'll be a shift to concentrating on locations, age ranges, and the other data the local folks need to get the picture of what's happening.
Every message will include reminders about hand washing, covering your cough and staying home when ill.
As we get into the weekend, schools will need to get a handle on what to do if they close, and when they will open. Parents will need to adjust to that.
WHO will be monitoring the country outbreaks, looking for evidence of widespread illness outside of North America, at which point the move will be made to phase 6.
Get used to the word pandemic. It's not a dirty word, or alarmist, or hype. It's a description of a novel virus that can spread human to human and causes disease. Right now, the disease seems relatively mild outside of Mexico, but all of the above effort is not based on where we are now, it's anticipating where we might be in two weeks or four. Or longer. people aren't used to thinking longer, but for now, just accept that things can possibly get worse before getting better, even though things can very well stay mild. Uncertainty is driving prudent precaution. Rather than rail against "hype", take some prudent steps to prepare yourself and your family, and that includes reviewing the above, covering your cough, and planning for school closures.
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An update from Perelandra from Machaelle:
We've had a major flurry of orders, and my staff is working like crazy to get everything cleared out of the mailroom as quickly as possible. We take pride in our usual 1-2 day turnaround time here and having a bunch of orders staring them in the face is making the mailroom folks that much more determined and just a little crazy. In some way, this delay is all my fault. Someone needs to remind me not to have a big Earth Week celebration, specials and contest end right on the weekend a pandemic decides to launch. Regrettable timing. Erk. In all our pandemic preparation and planning (something we've been doing for about three years now), we never once considered the collision of a major celebration and a pandemic launch. Once we get this initial bump cleared out, I'm pretty sure we'll be back to our usual turnaround time, even with the larger number of orders coming in due to the pandemic news. I promise to behave and not screw up the flow of our mailroom with another avalanche of orders from some big whoopee celebration I've cooked up.
Even with our temporary delay, I want to urge you not to hold off on your orders when it comes to stocking up right now. We want to make sure everything you need gets to you just in case this pandemic truly launches. I believe in the wisdom of preparation and I want to help you prepare as much as I can. So don't you worry about our mailroom "challenge." You do what you need to do to stock up and let us figure out how to tame the temporary shipping challenge. In the meantime, you can't believe how grateful the staff is for your patience. They think you folks are amazing. By the way, we're posting shipping info and updates on the web site so you can see what's going on and how close your order is to being shipped.
The other thing I want to assure you about: As I said, we've been planning for a pandemic for several years now. We're not short on stock. So you don't need to worry about whether we'll be running out of stuff.
I'll be "talking" to you again soon,
Machaelle
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Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this paper
is complete and accurate. However, neither the publisher nor the author are engaged
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