Posted on 06/11/2009 8:42:20 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The World Health Organization this morning formally declared that swine flu had reached the level of a full-blown pandemic, moving the viral outbreaks to phase 6 on the pandemic alert scale.
WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan met with flu experts at 6 a.m. ET today in Geneva to discuss the spread of the novel virus, and since Wednesday the escalation to the highest level of pandemic alert had been widely anticipated.
The move reflects the continued spread of the virus around the globe, despite quarantines, school closings and other measures designed to keep it in check. Swine flu is the first official influenza pandemic in more than 40 years.
However, public health experts say there's no reason for the public to be more concerned about the virus today than yesterday; indeed, it is unlikely that much will change at all for the general public.
"From a macro view, the main actions defined for WHO phase 5 are the same as those for phase 6," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "However, individual countries and communities may have conditioned key tactical and operational steps of their response to the WHO phases, so there could be significant local, regional, or national impact. Technically, we have been in phase 6 for some time."
"When you hear this announcement, and your children are with you, main thing is to reassure kids not really all that much is going to change unless things get more severe," Dr. Irwin Redlener of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York, told "Good Morning America."
Other infectious disease experts were quick to point out that the pandemic designation refers to the spread of a disease -- not its severity.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
They’re trying to convince us that we are all infected, I guess...
Funding. Everybody loves funding, and making people panic is the best way to get it.
Of course with this and bird flu and SARS eventually people are going to stop listening to WHO, and right about then is when we’ll get a disease that really is dangerous.
I suppose the common cold has been at level 6 for a while?
Never let a crisis go to waste.
Because WHO and its swine flu got pushed out of the news cycle and they want attention.
Who knows? Maybe some of them hold stock in Tamiflu? < /sarc >
Seriously, when was the last known case of the so-called "swine flu"? A month ago? Sheesh. Talk about being late to the party!
You know, they’re going to end up regretting crying wolf like this. People won’t take the next one that’s truly a pandemic seriously until it’s too late.
why is it suddenly a Pandemic?
Reminds me of a story of a The Boy Who Cried Wolf..
I know this may sound a bit tin foil, but maybe that’s their plan.
Just an aluminum thought....
Yeah, or Penn Jillette’s patter for the juggling broken bottles routine (”this bottle is really nasty, of course I say that every show but this time I mean, of course I say that every show too but THIS TIME”).
There is some indication that Australia, entering their fall/winter season, has seen an exponential increase in swine flu cases in the last few days.
Just wait for it -
we’ll hear pretty soon what freedoms we’ll have to surrender to get through this “crisis”.
No, there are cases everywhere, whether it is truly a “pandemic” is my question.
Watch for Big Pharma’s rollout of a Government-mandated vaccine.
The freedom you should expect to be surrendering is the freedom of your (and your children’s) physical determination or as the founding fathers would no doubt surmise - the God-given natural right to life itself.
I agree-co-inky-dink that we are in the middle of “reviewing” the unstoppable Public Health Insurance “Plan”? After all-it’s URGENT per the big O..
Hmmmmmm.....
Me-thinks somethings afoot...
SZQ
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