Thank you, CDC and WHO, for being such complete jerks
How many people are going to have to die from the swine flu before the CDC and the WHO get off their asses and actually declare a pandemic? Because when Michael Osterholm, a pandemic risk expert from the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, starts criticizing the CDC and WHO for being more concerned with politics and possible economic fallout if international travel is restricted, I'm going to listen. Osterholm's been highly critical of the CDC's and WHO's sluggish reaction in the recent past to possibly devastating outbreaks of widespread disease.
From an article today in TIME:
"'Though the World Health Organization (WHO) is referring to the situation as a "public-health emergency of international concern,'" the apparent emergence in several countries of an entirely new strain of H1N1 flu virus has led some scientists to believe that it is only a matter of time before the WHO declares pandemic status, a move that could prompt travel bans to infected countries. "'We are clearly seeing wide spread,'" says Michael Osterholm, a pandemic risk expert who runs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "'There is no question.'"
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed somewhere between twenty to one hundred million people all over the world. Virtually no population was left untouched; outlying islands, remote outposts in the north and south, nowhere remained untainted. You combine that with the fact that in 2009, people are much more mobile than in 1918, and this could be devastating despite claims that our health system is supposedly well-equipped to deal with a widespread pandemic.
Swine flu has already (there's a good argument to be made somewhere in the midst of this tragedy for better animal husbandry practices that maybe doesn't jam animals so closely together that they can barely fucking breathe) killed at least eighty people in Mexico and sickened hundreds more. Lest you dismiss this because you're vigorous and healthy, like the Spanish Flu, it's primarily young and healthy people who have been killed by swine flu. The problem is that because flu strains frequently evolve, the strain of swine flu that we're seeing now could burn out and then come back in a more vigorous form a few months from now -- in the fall and winter -- and start killing people in the thousands or hundreds of thousands.
Cases have been reported in Southern California, Northern California, Texas, Canada, Mexico (obviously), and the UK.
My mother lives in a nursing home in Tucson. Right now I don't want anyone who's been to Mexico in the last five months to be within a forty foot radius of her.
At least Hong Kong has been more on the ball:
"That is in contrast to the more extreme actions of some other governments, including Hong Kong, where officials on Sunday urged residents to avoid going to Mexico. Hong Kong officials also ordered the immediate detention in a hospital of anyone who arrives with a fever above 100.4 F, respiratory symptoms and a history of traveling over the past seven days to a city with a confirmed case of swine flu infection."
Hong Kong still has the specter of avian flu to deal with.
You know what? This is difficult for me to say, but I think we need to temporarily adjust our definitions of civil rights. I agree with what officials in Hong Kong have been doing. I hope flights to Mexico get banned outright for months, I hope that people returning from travel to any of the above countries that exhibit any of the symptoms get their asses detained and tossed into an isolation tank and treated until they're free of contagion, and I think that any concerns about travel bans and closing of public events, etc., having supposedly deleterious impact to the world's economy need to be thrown right out the window. The WHO has hesitated before to upgrade contagion threats to severe status, and people have died because of this.
More articles:
The Associated Press' article.
Swine flu closes schools in Texas, New York, and California.
The San Francisco Chronicle: possible swine flu case in Sacramento.
Swine flu case in Canada.
Swine flu spreads among Mexican tourists.
Screw you, WHO and CDC. The world population's right to not die from swine flu because of your inaction and minimization of the risk outweighs your bullshit political concerns.
As for me, my boss is going to be canceling his trip to Canada, I'll be washing my hands a lot more, and you can stay the fuck away from me if you've been to any of the affected countries in the last couple of months. Hey, it looks my recent tendency towards hermit behavior might actually serve me well!
From an article today in TIME:
"'Though the World Health Organization (WHO) is referring to the situation as a "public-health emergency of international concern,'" the apparent emergence in several countries of an entirely new strain of H1N1 flu virus has led some scientists to believe that it is only a matter of time before the WHO declares pandemic status, a move that could prompt travel bans to infected countries. "'We are clearly seeing wide spread,'" says Michael Osterholm, a pandemic risk expert who runs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "'There is no question.'"
The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1920 killed somewhere between twenty to one hundred million people all over the world. Virtually no population was left untouched; outlying islands, remote outposts in the north and south, nowhere remained untainted. You combine that with the fact that in 2009, people are much more mobile than in 1918, and this could be devastating despite claims that our health system is supposedly well-equipped to deal with a widespread pandemic.
Swine flu has already (there's a good argument to be made somewhere in the midst of this tragedy for better animal husbandry practices that maybe doesn't jam animals so closely together that they can barely fucking breathe) killed at least eighty people in Mexico and sickened hundreds more. Lest you dismiss this because you're vigorous and healthy, like the Spanish Flu, it's primarily young and healthy people who have been killed by swine flu. The problem is that because flu strains frequently evolve, the strain of swine flu that we're seeing now could burn out and then come back in a more vigorous form a few months from now -- in the fall and winter -- and start killing people in the thousands or hundreds of thousands.
Cases have been reported in Southern California, Northern California, Texas, Canada, Mexico (obviously), and the UK.
My mother lives in a nursing home in Tucson. Right now I don't want anyone who's been to Mexico in the last five months to be within a forty foot radius of her.
At least Hong Kong has been more on the ball:
"That is in contrast to the more extreme actions of some other governments, including Hong Kong, where officials on Sunday urged residents to avoid going to Mexico. Hong Kong officials also ordered the immediate detention in a hospital of anyone who arrives with a fever above 100.4 F, respiratory symptoms and a history of traveling over the past seven days to a city with a confirmed case of swine flu infection."
Hong Kong still has the specter of avian flu to deal with.
You know what? This is difficult for me to say, but I think we need to temporarily adjust our definitions of civil rights. I agree with what officials in Hong Kong have been doing. I hope flights to Mexico get banned outright for months, I hope that people returning from travel to any of the above countries that exhibit any of the symptoms get their asses detained and tossed into an isolation tank and treated until they're free of contagion, and I think that any concerns about travel bans and closing of public events, etc., having supposedly deleterious impact to the world's economy need to be thrown right out the window. The WHO has hesitated before to upgrade contagion threats to severe status, and people have died because of this.
More articles:
The Associated Press' article.
Swine flu closes schools in Texas, New York, and California.
The San Francisco Chronicle: possible swine flu case in Sacramento.
Swine flu case in Canada.
Swine flu spreads among Mexican tourists.
Screw you, WHO and CDC. The world population's right to not die from swine flu because of your inaction and minimization of the risk outweighs your bullshit political concerns.
As for me, my boss is going to be canceling his trip to Canada, I'll be washing my hands a lot more, and you can stay the fuck away from me if you've been to any of the affected countries in the last couple of months. Hey, it looks my recent tendency towards hermit behavior might actually serve me well!