Pandemic Flu Awareness Week
The idea is to raise awareness in the blogosphere about a possible flu pandemic. Revere at the indispensable Effect Measure sums up where we are:
The good news is that in the year since the first effort to raise the awareness of the blogosphere, much has happened in the way of increased recognition of the pandemic threat. Communities around the world have started to plan for the possibility of a pandemic and the planning process will pay dividends. More good news is that a pandemic strain of H5N1, the leading candidate for a disastrous flu pandemic, has yet to come into the open. The bad news is that there is much, much more that needs to be done if we are to be even moderately prepared; and while no pandemic strain has yet emerged, the signals coming from the virus are louder, more insistent and more widespread than ever (see our recap here). This year has set a record for new human cases, the virus is geographically more widespread in poultry, and an unknown number of hosts, new and old, are harboring it.
I've been posting flu news here at LiberalRage occasionally for awhile now, ever since my monster flu Q&A post in January. There's always news to be had about H5N1, and I may post more of it this week.
But today I'd rather hear from you. I'd like to know what you guys think about the possibility of pandemic. Do you think it's a real possibility, or are you dubious? What would make you decide it was a real possibility? What would move you to make personal or business or community preparations? What do you want to know? What would you like to do that you haven't? ...Or do you just wish I'd STFU about it.
I have to admit that for all my postings here, and for all I feel that community preparation would make a big difference in how we weather a pandemic, I haven't gotten involved in making my own city better prepared. I want to change that.
Flu Links:
* The Flu Wiki, a searchable wiki for information and preparedness, in various languages
* PandemicFlu.gov, the official U.S. government pandemic flu site
* The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, a public health site