U.S. Asks Businesses To Prepare For H1N1
The federal government is urging employers to offer flexible sick leave policies as the nation braces for a second wave of the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano offered guidance to businesses on how to prevent the spread of H1N1, also known as swine flu, and to prepare for a major outbreak.
They stressed allowing employees who exhibit flu symptoms to go home and to stay home until at least 24 hours have passed since their fevers subsided. They also said businesses should consider eliminating policies that require a doctor’s note or other proof to justify a sick day and that employers should be prepared to operate with fewer people.
“It’s more than just a significant health issue. It has the potential to affect every aspect of our lives,’’ Locke said. “It will take Americans from every walk of life pulling together and doing our part to mount an effective response.’’
As the first pandemic in more than 40 years, it has the potential to cause massive disruptions for businesses, schools, and governments. The United States and other northern nations have been scrambling to prepare for a resurgence of the virus by stockpiling flu treatments and vaccines.
National Guard Drills For Worse Case H1N1 Scenario
Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School will be the site of a National Guard riot control drill Thursday morning to prepare in the event of a panic over distribution of serum to treat the swine flu.
The school on Route 26 at the Paris-Norway town line has been designated by state officials as a distribution site for the H1N1 flu vaccine. The drill is to prepare for a worst-case scenario should the serum have to be transported from Augusta and people rush to get it.
On Thursday morning, four or five National Guard Humvees will travel from Augusta to Paris with vials of fake serum. The National Guardsmen will take on the roles of panicked citizens and military police and practice what they would do, such as using tear gas, in the case of a riot.
“This is just a component of moving the stuff from point A to B,” said Oxford County Emergency Management Agency Director Scott Parker. The plan will be put into place only if needed, he said.
Plans were developed in April to have vials of serum sent from the federal government to Augusta, Parker said. From Augusta, the supplies will be transported to designated distribution centers.
During the April conference, concerns were raised about a possible out-of-control rush on the serum, Parker said. Because of that concern, Gov. John Baldacci and Gen. John Libby, adjutant general of the Maine National Guard, agreed that a plan should be devised to quell such a disturbance.
Local police chiefs have also been involved in the planning, Parker said. In a real event, local police would be in charge of security once the serum arrives in Paris. “We own it. We’re in charge of providing security,” he said.
via National Guard drill at high school to prepare for possible H1N1 riot | Sun Journal.
Level 6 / Phase 6 Flu Pandemic Declared By WHO
June 11, 2009 by national
Filed under Emergency Preparedness
World Health Organization (WHO) officials declared a pandemic of H1N1 influenza on Thursday, two months after the first cases of the new flu virus were reported in Mexico. It is the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the 1968 Hong Kong flu.
The WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert to Phase 6, the highest level, was based on specific criteria, most significantly that the disease is now widespread, sustaining transmission in more than two regions around the world — including the Americas (Mexico and the U.S., which have so far borne the greatest brunt of the new flu) and Australia, where cases have risen sharply. The latest data show there are nearly 30,000 cases in 74 countries, with 144 confirmed deaths.
WHO Declaration of Swine Flu Pandemic Looks Imminent
June 11, 2009 by national
Filed under Emergency Preparedness
H1N1’s swift spread in Australia may meet criteria for full alert, agency says.
A surge in cases of H1N1 swine flu in Australia may tip the balance and cause the World Health Organization to soon declare the first flu pandemic since 1968, agency officials said Tuesday.
Cases in Australia rose by more than 1,000 on Monday, with most occurring in the southern state of Victoria. Rapid spread of the virus in a region beyond North America has been considered a key factor in labeling the outbreak a pandemic.
WHO calls emergency meeting, H1N1 outbreak now affects 74 countries.
“We are getting really very close to knowing that we are in a pandemic situation,” WHO influenza chief Keiji Fukuda said in Geneva.
He said the agency was concerned about the possible “adverse effects” of moving the alert from its current status of phase 5 to the highest level, phase 6, indicating a full pandemic, the Associated Press reported. Fukuda cited concerns over possible panic among the public or inappropriate steps taken by governments.
However, “on the surface of it, I think we are in phase 6,” said Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general. According to Chan, it is crucial to verify that H1N1 has become established beyond North America before a pandemic is declared. “Once I get indisputable evidence, I will make the announcement,” she said Tuesday.
Swine Flu Pandemic – WHO Preparing To Announce?
June 9, 2009 by national
Filed under Emergency Preparedness
The World Health Organization is preparing to declare a swine flu pandemic, officials hinted Tuesday, saying that the goal now is to prevent countries and populations from panicking.
“One of the critical issues is that we do not want people to panic if they hear that we are in a pandemic situation,” Feiji Fukuda, WHO’s acting assistant director-general, said in a media call Tuesday.
“We know the virus is spreading and we are now seeing activity picking up in a number of countries. We know that we are getting closer to probably a pandemic situation,” Fukuda said.
The number of countries reporting lab confirmed cases of human swine flu stood at 73 Tuesday, with 26,563 cases, including 249 deaths.
Fukuda says WHO “has been working extremely hard in terms of preparing countries, preparing populations for what a potential move to Phase 6 would entail.” The virus continues to be sensitive to anti-viral drugs, he says. The majority of infections are occurring in younger people, under age 60, which is different than normal season flu.
WHO is concerned about the “disproportionate number” of serious cases occurring in the outbreak of HIN1 at St. Theresa Point, a remote First Nation in northern Manitoba, where hundreds of people have reported symptoms in the community of 3,200 and at least 20 have been treated in hospital.
These are observations of concern to us,” Fukuda said.
WHO Says Swine Flu Verging on Pandemic
June 2, 2009 by national
Filed under Emergency Preparedness
The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is “getting closer” to declaring a global outbreak of the swine flu virus as the infection appears to be taking hold outside of North America.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the disease has reached 64 countries and infected 18,965 people, causing 117 deaths.
The overwhelming majority of cases and deaths have been reported in Mexico and the United States, but increasingly the virus is spreading from person to person in countries as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia.
“We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it’s fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet,” Fukuda said.
Phase 6 is the highest alert on WHO’s scale, signaling a pandemic _ a global epidemic. In terms of the geographic spread of swine flu, the world is “at phase 5 but getting closer to phase 6,” Fukuda said.
WHO is now debating whether to add a second measure that indicates how dangerous the virus is _ rather than just how widespread _ after several countries raised concerns that declaring a global pandemic could cause mass confusion and panic even though it is still unclear how dangerous the virus will be.
Some nations have already imposed costly trade and travel barriers, “drastic actions” that Fukuda said WHO would seek to prevent.
Swine Flu – First U.S. Death Is Reported
April 29, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
American authorities confirmed the first death outside of Mexico from swine flu on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed cases of the disease continued to rise in Europe.
President Obama, in a morning news conference, called on local authorities to be vigilant in reporting new suspected cases, and called on schools to consider closing temporarily if a confirmed case was reported among its students.
[...]
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday in an interview with CNN that the first American death of the disease was a 23-month-old child in Texas. He gave no other details about the child. The death was confirmed by President Obama, who said his “thoughts and prayers” were with the child’s family.
Swine Flu – World Counting Down To Pandemic Says Top Virologist
April 27, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
A Chinese virologist who helped fight SARS and bird flu warned on Monday of a possible swine flu pandemic that the most populous countries in Asia, China and India, would be ill-prepared to handle.
“We are counting down to a pandemic,” said Guan Yi, a professor at the University of Hong Kong who helped trace the outbreak of SARS in 2003 to the civet cat.
“I think the spread of this virus in humans cannot possibly be contained within a short time … there are already cases in almost every region. The picture is changing every moment.”
Guan, who has been studying and tracking the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus ever since it was discovered in people in Hong Kong in 1997, said there would be “many problems” if swine flu reached China and India, “where populations are so dense and health infrastructure is still insufficient.”
The virus, which carries swine, avian and human DNA and the designation H1N1, has already killed up to 103 people in Mexico, infected 20 in the United States and six in Canada.
There are many questions surrounding this virus, such as why it appears milder in the United States and deadlier in Mexico.
“It may seem weaker for now in the United States, but we do not know if it will get more virulent when it goes to another place as it mutates constantly,” said Guan.
Mexico Swine Flu Death Toll Rises To 103
April 27, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
The probable death toll from a swine flu epidemic in Mexico has reached 103 people, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova announced.
The minister said on national television that the number of those hospitalized due to the epidemic stood at about 400.
The previous probable death toll, announced Saturday, stood at 81 confirmed and suspected swine flu fatalities.
Meanwhile, the number of cases under observation has reached 1,614, up from 1,324, according to the minister.
Swine Flu – U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency
April 26, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
The United States has activated an emergency plan to combat swine flu as the Obama administration announced measures Sunday to contain the sometimes deadly virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified the strain of swine flu and is prepared to distribute a quarter of the U.S. stockpile of 50 million doses of anti-viral medications in places around the country where swine flu has been located or may be expected to spread, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a briefing at the White House.
Travel advisories have not been issued by the State Department, Napolitano said, nor is the United States going to screen passengers on flights arriving from Mexico. She said funds have been freed up in case a larger response is needed.
Hand-washing, mask-wearing and other measures will help prevent the spread, Napolitano said explaining how the public can help slow potential contaminations.
“If you are sick, stay home,” Napolitano said. “Take all of those reasonable measures that will help us mitigate and contain” the illness.
People who are ill should not go on airplanes, to school or other places, added Dr. Richard Besser, the acting head of the CDC.
Besser said the United States is working with the World Health Organization, Canada and Mexico as well as other organizations to reduce the spread of the virus, which appears to have originated in Mexico and has resulted in up to 81 deaths there.
UK Crew Member In Hospital After Mexico Flight
April 25, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
A British Airways cabin crew member was taken to a London hospital as a precaution after developing flu-like symptoms on a flight from Mexico City, the airline said Saturday.
It was the first such reported precautionary measure in Britain since the emergence of a new flu strain that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico. It has also infected at least 11 people in the United States. The man has undergone tests, but the results are not expected back until Sunday. No other crew members or passengers on the BA242 flight into Heathrow airport were detained.
“He has flu-like symptoms and is responding well to treatment,” a hospital spokesman said in a statement.
“The patient was admitted directly to a side room and the hospital is scrupulously following infection control procedures to ensure there is no risk to any other individual in the hospital.”
Outbreak at New York City School Likely Swine Flu
April 25, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
At least eight students at a New York City high school probably have human swine influenza, but health officials said Saturday they don’t know for sure whether they have the same virus that has killed scores of people in Mexico. At least two cases of the flu have been confirmed in Kansas.
A strain of the flu has killed as many as 68 people and sickened more than 1,000 across Mexico. The World Health Organization chief said Saturday the strain has “pandemic potential” and it may be too late to contain a sudden outbreak.
New York health officials said more than 100 students at the private St. Francis Preparatory School, in Queens, had come down with a fever, sore throat and other aches and pains in the past few days. Some of their relatives have also been ill.
New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said nose and throat swabs had confirmed that eight students had influenza type A, indicating probable cases of swine flu, but the exact subtypes were still unknown.
Samples had been sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for more testing. Results were expected on Sunday.
via Source
California Has Vigorous Swine Flu Plan – Schwarzenegger
April 25, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
California has made a “rigorous and thorough” response to a new strain of flu that has killed up to 60 people in Mexico and infected eight in the United States, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Friday.
California, home to six of the U.S. cases, was coordinating with federal and international health experts on its plan, which includes surveillance of patients with flu-like illness, Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Other steps the state has taken include requesting extra flu experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and expanding lab testing and veterinary activities, he said.
California has also activated its Joint Emergency Operations Center with the Department of Public Health and been in communication with officials in Mexico.
The governor advised Californians to take “common-sense” steps to avoid contracting the flu, including covering the nose and mouth when sneezing, washing hands with soap and water often and avoiding close contact with others.
Four of Mexico’s suspected cases have been reported in Mexicali, which shares a border with California
via Reuters AlertNet – California has ‘rigorous’ flu plan -Schwarzenegger.
CDC Says Too Late To Contain U.S. Flu Outbreak
April 24, 2009 by national
Filed under National Interest
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it was too late to contain the swine flu outbreak in the United States.
CDC acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing it was likely too late to try to contain the outbreak, by vaccinating, treating or isolating people.
“There are things that we see that suggest that containment is not very likely,” he said.
He said the U.S. cases and Mexican cases are likely the same virus. “So far the genetic elements that we have looked at are the same.” But Besser said it was unclear why the virus was causing so many deaths in deaths in Mexico and such mild disease in the United States.
