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I thought that this was a pretty interesting article from a college newspaper, particularly as I'd never heard that some emergency responders are being advised to stockpile enough food to last their families THREE months.
I'd like to find out more about these recommendations, how many people have been advised to do this, when were they given these instructions, and where was this advice initially issued? Is this common advice to all emergency responders in all states across America?
Here's a short quote from the article, written by an economics professor.
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Pandemic flu soon? The odds seem to worsen - Viewpoints
,,,,,,What does this mean for Tufts students? The period of maximum danger is during the flu season, roughly from October to April. If a pandemic were to occur, the best way to slow it down would be to "shelter in place" - stay home.
However, home would probably not mean Tufts. Tufts would find it very hard to keep thousands of students in dorms healthy and separated from each other.
Food supplies might be interrupted, and Dining Services now has only a limited emergency supply of food, though they could extend this in an emergency.
But where could students go to? How many of their parents have a 30-day supply of food stored, as Governor Romney suggested families should put aside this year?
How many have a three-month supply as some emergency workers are now being told to provide for themselves and their families?
How many know about frequent hand washing, social distancing, N-95 masks and other tricks to reduce the spread of the flu? (In a normal year, about 10 percent of people get the seasonal flu.) What would international students do if airline flights were cancelled? What would students whose parents live in major cities do if food supply shipments broke down?
One Boston-area college sent a letter on Aug. 23 to all incoming students saying that it might be necessary to close the university in a pandemic emergency. It instructs the students to have a realistic place to go to for shelter, a way to get there, a designated person with whom to travel (if by car), and to set aside provisions for food and water.
Every student has to certify that these preparations are in place and give a contact phone number so that they can be warned by the college in the event of an emergency.
It is very difficult to plan for something that is so uncertain. We do not know if a pandemic will occur this flu season or even in the next few years.
However, on Sept. 6 in New York, Dr. David Nabarro, the UN senior coordinator for avian flu, said that there will be a pandemic and that we now have only "God-given time" to prepare for it.
He also said that officially reported H5N1 cases and deaths were likely significantly under-reported. He said that, while we were now officially at Level 3 on the pandemic warning scale (1= no worries; 6 = run for the cellar), levels 4, 5 and 6 might come very quickly.
Recent World Health Organization warnings say
that H5N1 is mutating, making vaccine production harder and raising fears of resistance to current medicines used to control it.
The other uncertainty is how bad it will be. Part of "bad" is how many will be infected and what percentage of those infected would die. Part of "bad" is what the impact will be on our society and economy.
Would power and other utilities continue to function? Would healthcare workers report for work? Would food and fuel deliveries keep being made? It is very difficult to predict just how difficult life would become or for how long......
I'd like to find out more about these recommendations, how many people have been advised to do this, when were they given these instructions, and where was this advice initially issued? Is this common advice to all emergency responders in all states across America?
Here's a short quote from the article, written by an economics professor.
================================================== =====
Pandemic flu soon? The odds seem to worsen - Viewpoints
,,,,,,What does this mean for Tufts students? The period of maximum danger is during the flu season, roughly from October to April. If a pandemic were to occur, the best way to slow it down would be to "shelter in place" - stay home.
However, home would probably not mean Tufts. Tufts would find it very hard to keep thousands of students in dorms healthy and separated from each other.
Food supplies might be interrupted, and Dining Services now has only a limited emergency supply of food, though they could extend this in an emergency.
But where could students go to? How many of their parents have a 30-day supply of food stored, as Governor Romney suggested families should put aside this year?
How many have a three-month supply as some emergency workers are now being told to provide for themselves and their families?
How many know about frequent hand washing, social distancing, N-95 masks and other tricks to reduce the spread of the flu? (In a normal year, about 10 percent of people get the seasonal flu.) What would international students do if airline flights were cancelled? What would students whose parents live in major cities do if food supply shipments broke down?
One Boston-area college sent a letter on Aug. 23 to all incoming students saying that it might be necessary to close the university in a pandemic emergency. It instructs the students to have a realistic place to go to for shelter, a way to get there, a designated person with whom to travel (if by car), and to set aside provisions for food and water.
Every student has to certify that these preparations are in place and give a contact phone number so that they can be warned by the college in the event of an emergency.
It is very difficult to plan for something that is so uncertain. We do not know if a pandemic will occur this flu season or even in the next few years.
However, on Sept. 6 in New York, Dr. David Nabarro, the UN senior coordinator for avian flu, said that there will be a pandemic and that we now have only "God-given time" to prepare for it.
He also said that officially reported H5N1 cases and deaths were likely significantly under-reported. He said that, while we were now officially at Level 3 on the pandemic warning scale (1= no worries; 6 = run for the cellar), levels 4, 5 and 6 might come very quickly.
Recent World Health Organization warnings say
that H5N1 is mutating, making vaccine production harder and raising fears of resistance to current medicines used to control it.
The other uncertainty is how bad it will be. Part of "bad" is how many will be infected and what percentage of those infected would die. Part of "bad" is what the impact will be on our society and economy.
Would power and other utilities continue to function? Would healthcare workers report for work? Would food and fuel deliveries keep being made? It is very difficult to predict just how difficult life would become or for how long......
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