States Told to Prepare for Worst Case Swine Flu Scenario

[indigo girl]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/09/obama.swine.flu/

This is a message more in line with what could actually happen. Now if they could just wake people up to the need for some personal responsibility to prepare families, it would be very helpful. The govt cannot take care of everything.

The public needs to have some education about putting outside supplies for a time when widespread illness would make standing in line at a store an uncomfortable experience. Certain items will disappear fast, but could be bought now with a little foresight. Hand cleansers, face masks etc. You can purchase N95 masks where house paint is sold. It may not be a perfect fit, but it's better than nothing.

Kathleen Sebelius also advised 500 government, health and education leaders to plan for the worst-case scenario: that the virus will reappear with renewed strength this fall.

"What we need to assume is that it will come back in a much more severe form," she said at the conference in Washington.

Commonly called swine flu, the virus is also known as influenza A(H1N1). The World Health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic on June 11.

Sebelius emphasized that extensive forward planning to combat the spread of the virus could always be scaled back later, but that officials could not delay starting work on those preparations.

"We can step back from our planning. What we can't do is wait until October," she explained.

The fight against H1N1 will be federally funded, the secretary said. She said the government will announce $350 million in preparedness grants on Friday: $260 million will go to state health departments and $90 million to hospitals preparing for a possible surge of patients.

The summit was requested by President Obama. He spoke to the group via video link from Italy, where he is attending the G-8 meeting of industrialized nations.

"We want to make sure we aren't promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama said.

(hat tip flutrackers/shiloh)

[oramar]

This warnings in this article are not overstated. Old saying, "better to be safe than sorry".

[indigo girl]

The Take Home Message from Today's Flu Summit

http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2009/07/take-home-message-from-todays-flu.html

Follow the link for more information.

It's been a long day of presentations, most of which were carried live online. Archived video of the plenary and breakout sessions should be posted over the next few days at http://www.flu.gov.

Again and again, the message today was we should all be preparing to deal with what could be a serious situation this fall. That the H1N1 virus may not be as `mild' (a relative term) in the future as it has been to date.

Unlike people living in the Southern Hemisphere, we've got some `adjustment' time in which to prepare.

For businesses, families, and individuals who have not already started, however, the amount of time is short.

[indigo girl]

Swine Flu Shots Could Begin This Fall

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31828836

Video of interview with HHS Secretary Sebelius at this link.

[indigo girl]

Flu summit thoughts

http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2009/07/flu_summit_thoughts.php#more

Parents take note:

I'll bet... it was sobering for many state officials who haven't had the chance or inclination to consider the myriad ways widespread absenteeism can affect our intertwined and interdependent modern way of life. One aspect vividly on display in the opening months of the current swine flu pandemic was the problem of school closures. It may make epidemiological sense to close a school but the public health benefits are hard to recognize (the adage is, when public health works, nothing happens). The non public health consequences are immediate and have major effects on people's lives. There are child care problems, children don't learn, work time and economic productivity suffer, significant numbers of kids don't get their best nutritional meal of the day, etc., etc. Every parent knows first hand the problems that ensue when your child can't go to school. And that's one of the problems. Everyone knows the consequences.

It appeared to us, watching the scattered reports in May about school closings as swine flu ramped up that the ability -- which in practical terms means, the responsibility and accountability --to pull the trigger on school closings is not particularly welcome at the state or local level. Decision makers there are not better equipped to know what to do than is CDC and would much prefer the decision be taken out of their hands, either by relying on general CDC "guidance" or doing nothing until the decision makes itself by parents refusing to send their children to classrooms with 20 - 30% absenteeism from flu-like illness -- in other words, waiting for the schools to close themselves.

The Editors of Effect Measure are senior public health scientists and practitioners. Paul Revere was a member of the first local Board of Health in the United States (Boston, 1799). The Editors sign their posts "Revere" to recognize the public service of a professional forerunner better known for other things.