Swine Flu - Pandemic Alert Level Raised, How Worried Are You?

[snow]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8025931.stm

 

The WHO has just raised the global pandemic alert level to 5 after the 2nd confirmed case of person to person infection in people who have not travelled to Mexico.

 

How worried are you about this flu? Are you planning to stockpile packs of face masks? Do you think that the WHO is being overly cautious or do they know more than they are telling us?

[Sherlock Bones]

I'm not stockpiling anything... but my firm has long had a bird flu plan. It is now the swine flu plan and we will all work from home, if the need arises. I had a meeting with the Bank of England today - they told me they had stocks of Tamiflu for all staff and a home working policy.

[phoebejo]

I swear I've got it already

[murtle]

I swear I've got it already

 

no you have to have chicken flu....unless you've been hiding some piggies from us?

 

(hope you are feeling better soon)

[chickentikka]

It's a strain of flu, not a killer virus as the press seem to be leading us to believe. Chances are if you get it you will be ill for 5 to 7 days, just like 'normal winter flu', yes some people will die (as they do each winter from 'flu') but swine flu is not a death sentence which some of the media seem to be reporting, so no I won't be walking around in my mask.

[snow]

We got rang by the council last year to ask us how many spaces we had left in our graveyards as they were compiling the information in the event of a major pandemic - I must admit it made me feel rather to be asked how many bodies we could take - I do understand the need for these kinds of forward "just in case" plans etc but it's one thing to think of that in the abstract and quite another just a few months later to be watching the news and see just how fast the WHO have ramped up the threat warning and to hear some of the very careful language being used.

[Abby]

I'm with chickentikka on this one. I rarely watch TV or the news and never read newspapers, but I hear about this on the radio and online. It absolutely exasperates me that they are being so jittery over this. SARS, avian flu, now this. I get the feeling everyone involved is trying to cover their backs so as not to come under fire later on when the blame game starts.

 

Most face masks are rubbish anyway. I will now retreat back up my Welsh hillside.

[phoebejo]

Call my a cynic but it gets the economic doom & gloom off the front pages doesn't it?

[Sherlock Bones]

Call my a cynic but it gets the economic doom & gloom off the front pages doesn't it?

 

that's exactly what the bank of england rep said....and wanted.

[phoebejo]

Well there's a surprise

[Helly]

The only people i tend to come into contact with are those about to go on holiday and those who are just coming back... as long as they are not just back from mexico i wont be worried. Im more likely to pick up kennel cough at this time of year

[ReikiAnge]

Call my a cynic but it gets the economic doom & gloom off the front pages doesn't it?

 

I'll join you in the cynical corner. It's a bit disturbing how some of the news presenters seem to report these things with such glee too.

 

 

<Ange, joining the thread from her underground bunker with six months worth of tinned food>

[scotslass]

Oh, how the authorities love to keep our little minds preoccupied. One bloody scare after another.

 

I'll just go on worrying (when I remember ) about the current terrorist threat level in the UK - which still stands at SEVERE.

 

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/counter-terro...t-threat-level/

 

That's just an example - every day, the papers highlight another health risk or food scare or dicey political situation to keep us on our toes, or to make us buy their rags. I have no doubt that the health authorities are keeping themselves right; if we keel over from this variety of flu, they can say "we warned you" and Joe Public can't sue.

 

I used to worry about everything, but am learning, belatedly, that it's a terrible waste of energy - especially if I can do nothing about it.

[Rumpole]

im not stockpiling face masks but i already carry tamiflu in dogs medicine cabinet so if stocks run low i can use that (vets are using it on parvo cases these days but dont always carry stock)

 

im not overly concerned other than as an asthmatic i could be up shite creek if i got it as could other at risks, but that could happen with ordinary flu (although im jabbed against that)

 

although its worrying it is transferring human to human i think we have to account for the fact that the deaths are mainly occurring in mexico at source and everyone in the know seems to think its weaker when passed on further down the line.

 

the press never disappoint though do they still at least its a virus and not dogs they are scaremongering about this time

[snow]

Oh I don't bother with the scaremongering press lol and I am as cynical about these scares as the rest of you - however - NHS Direct is suggesting on it's website that people could start to prepare now by having at least 2 weeks worth of food and supplies to hand ... now I agree they need to cover their arses but I don't actually recall ever seeing that kind of advice being given out by the NHS before - I could be wrong and maybe they have but I don't remember it.

 

I think the press have a lot to answer for with the way they respond to things like that, I agree we have had the AIDS scare, the Salmonella Scare, Mad Cow, CJD, SARS, Bird Flu etc. etc all proved to be nowhere near the threat they predicted (not disputing the fact that some of them have been killers) however I am mindful of the cry wolf story, the moral of that one being that there really WAS a wolf ... one of these days there really is going to be a pandemic or outbreak of something nasty and many people will be so sceptical of it that they will end up at greater risk than perhaps they might have been if the press hadn't been so irresponsible.