Posted on 04/29/2009 1:30:18 PM PDT by COUNTrecount
The World Health Organisation tonight raised the pandemic alert level to five out of six after the continued spread of swine flu world wide.
Margaret Chan, the organisation's director-general, said tonight: "I have decided to raise the current level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5.
"Influenza pandemics must be taken seriously precisely because of their capacity to spread rapidly to every country in the world."
Making a call to governments, she said: "This change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other industries, to the pharmaceutical industry and business industry that certain actions must be undertaken now with increased urgency and at an accelerated pace."
Related Links Swine flu schoolgirl among new British cases WHO stops short of declaring swine flu pandemic Egyptian Christians riot after swine flu cull Multimedia Video: why such a killer? The 1918 flu pandemic She warned: "It really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic."
More follows...
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Nope. Not a one.
It's not going to be anywhere near that, perhaps a few thousand people, maybe as many as 10-20 thousand tops. We have far better communication means than we had during the days of the Spanish flu. Back then, people didn't even have radio.
If even a half million people feel directly threatened (not just worry-wart paranoid) by this, it's Zero's Katrina.
Glad to see that some people are paying attention on here.
I have watched, studied flu’s for a few years.
If you google Madelin Cosman, she wrote several articles on the illnesses that were coming into the USA and her concerns. I first learned about Bird Flu from one of her articles. Then I was asked to do a report about Bird flu before my boss went to China...Was the risk worth the reward? He decided it wasn’t.
I also have a report that my son’s Physician participated in for a Statewide Pandemic Training Exercise in 2007. I trust this doctor, and I know he wouldn’t be participating in something that was “nonsense”, he is way too busy and he is a great doctor. Experts have expected a Pandemic, I don’t believe that Obama had anything to do with this. I do believe he is handling it inappropriately.
I would say they are acting under orders from the feds to cause a panic in order to pass more stringent laws on the American public, not to mention any other country that wants to jump on the bandwagon and use it as an excuse to hamstring their citizens.
The information will be made available to the public through the CCC website, at www.coyotecampaign.org. THIS HIGHLIGHTS WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT "The most beneficial advice that can be offered from the Coyote Crisis Campaign is that organizations cannot wait for funding to drive planning.
Whether the pandemic flu hits soon, or next year, or the next, it is according to all experts coming. Organizations must be creating plans, considering in particular contingency management; succession plans; communications with employees, constituencies, patients, clients, customers; and decisions about actions that must be taken during different phases of the pandemic flu. Pandemic flu will affect all of us at home and at the office and we must be prepared for the impact upon both fronts."
EXCERPT FROM THE REPORT BELOW "One of the resources that have proven instrumental to planning has been an algorithm provided through MathEcology, a company that has been contracted to generate forecasts of labor shortages/bed capacity use for the CDC and the Department of Defense.
Through relationships with the military, CCC was able to gain authorization to use the algorithm, and MathEcology now a participant in CCC generously offered to conduct customized predictions based on stakeholder characteristics.
The information is based on specific assumptions, derived from the CDC and altered for particular high risk factors that may be prevalent in some organizations, such as higher rates of labor shortages in hospitals due to heightened exposure to infected populations. Assumptions utilized by the CCC are: 30 percent infection rate for the general population 40 percent infection rate for school-aged children 20 percent infection rate for working adults 2.5 percent mortality rate of those infected 40 percent of labor force will not be at work 6-week epidemic waves Another resource that has proven to be highly beneficial for planning is the Washington, D. C. based National Guard Bureaus drill planning video that describes a hypothetical move of the pandemic flu into the southwestern part of the country.
Using the theoretical scenario, a ship carrying various breeds 5 of poultry is traveling from Asia to Brazil, infecting crewmembers. From Brazil, the infection spreads to Mexico and across the Arizona border. Based on the World Health Organizations phases of pandemic flu, CCC organizations are asked to consider the elements of their pandemic flu plans to be enacted during four stages of flu progression: In March 2007, CCC is in Phase 5 (Continuing Pandemic Alert Period). There are large clusters of human to human transmissions and the virus is becoming better adapted to humans. There are 300 dead in South America and cases reported in Mexico.
A few weeks later, CCC remains in Phase 5. There have been 1,000 deaths in Mexico. A few weeks later, CCC is in Phase 6 (Pandemic Period), with the first wave of pandemic flu. During Coyote Week, CCC is experiencing its second wave of the pandemic flu. CCC exercise planning occurs through the Planning Cell and the Executive Committee.
Thank You!!
Thanks for the ping Azkathy! Interesting...
I found the following link if you would like to access the whole report.
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/415/scottsdale_az.pdf
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