I am just having trouble at this point seeing this as a crisis.
I know what you mean. However, we have to remember that a pandemic flue outbreak is an exponential event, not an arithmetic one. That means that tomorrow could be 10x and not just 2x worse than today. In other words, you don't see it coming.
It’s not now, although with the apparent death rate in Mexico from this particular flu, it could have been. People need to not panic, but take regular precautions.
YES....you gotta wonder what the Razzle Dazzler is doing while everyone is focused on THIS ....
The human swine flu outbreak continues to grow in the United States and internationallly. Today, CDC reports additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients. Internationally, the situation is more serious too, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4External Web Site Policy.. A Phase 4 alert is characterized by confirmed person-to-person spread of a new influenza virus able to cause “community-level” outbreaks.” The increase in the pandemic alert phase indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased.
We are in day 3 or 4 in the US. Maybe 7 to 10 internationally. The real spike in cases starts around day 15 and peaks around day 20. It is early but things will start happening more and more every day if this really is a worldwide pandemic.
1. Identify an event that is not a crisis
...a. Best time is when the crisis can be linked to a legislative pet project (universal health care)
...b. Next-best time is when attention needs to be diverted (budget bill)
2. Hype the non-crisis event as a crisis
3. Make sure everyone is frightened
4. Wait one to two weeks
5. Proclaim that the crisis is over
6. Give credit to Obama for “responding” to the crisis