Have Your Avian Flu Ready Kit Yet?
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If there's one thing in "Bowling for Columbine" that I feel indifferent about, it's the part where he's talking about people living in fear. The spectre of fear was one of the main theses of that movie. I get what he was saying about how using fear as a governing tactic is wrong, but this appears to be a fine line. When are we living in fear, and when are we preparing?
The leaders of both the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have both come out on record as saying that an Avian Flu pandemic is highly probably. It's not exactly a 100% thing, but they're basically saying that if they were betting men, they'd bet the farm on an outbreak. They both came to the conclusion that even if a person to person pandemic were to not happen, it's almost a 100% certainty that migratory birds will eventually end up bring the bird strain of the virus to the United States.
I watched a show on the National Geographic Channel (which is rapidly becoming my favorite channel on television) that chronicled a possible worst case scenario for the avian flu pandemic. It didn't paint a pretty picture. The World Economy would be hit very forcefully. Social unrest could arise as people sought out food, which isn't being shipped in mass quantity amounts anymore. They talked about people basically holing themselves up in their houses and apartments, trying to escape the flu. They talked about how we have such a shortage of able medical workers now, that a pandemic would put this strain to critical mass. They even talked about the preferred method of dead body disposal; mass graves or burning the bodies.
They also said that despite a survival rate being a 50/50 proposition, 98 out every 100 people would still be alive after the flu had come and gone. Those are pretty good odds, but still...
So what now? Do I go out and buy surgical masks like people wore during the big flu outbreaks of early last century? Do I buy a large supply of frozen meats, rice, pasta, and other food products capable of providing long term sustenance? I know how crazy people get when they think their lives are in jeopardy, do I buy a gun as well? A tank of gas?
Or do I just go about my life normally?
What's the line here? When is it living in fear, and when is it common sense to prepare for something that experts say is highly probable to occur?
The leaders of both the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have both come out on record as saying that an Avian Flu pandemic is highly probably. It's not exactly a 100% thing, but they're basically saying that if they were betting men, they'd bet the farm on an outbreak. They both came to the conclusion that even if a person to person pandemic were to not happen, it's almost a 100% certainty that migratory birds will eventually end up bring the bird strain of the virus to the United States.
I watched a show on the National Geographic Channel (which is rapidly becoming my favorite channel on television) that chronicled a possible worst case scenario for the avian flu pandemic. It didn't paint a pretty picture. The World Economy would be hit very forcefully. Social unrest could arise as people sought out food, which isn't being shipped in mass quantity amounts anymore. They talked about people basically holing themselves up in their houses and apartments, trying to escape the flu. They talked about how we have such a shortage of able medical workers now, that a pandemic would put this strain to critical mass. They even talked about the preferred method of dead body disposal; mass graves or burning the bodies.
They also said that despite a survival rate being a 50/50 proposition, 98 out every 100 people would still be alive after the flu had come and gone. Those are pretty good odds, but still...
So what now? Do I go out and buy surgical masks like people wore during the big flu outbreaks of early last century? Do I buy a large supply of frozen meats, rice, pasta, and other food products capable of providing long term sustenance? I know how crazy people get when they think their lives are in jeopardy, do I buy a gun as well? A tank of gas?
Or do I just go about my life normally?
What's the line here? When is it living in fear, and when is it common sense to prepare for something that experts say is highly probable to occur?
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