WHO Set To Raise Pandemic Alert Within Hours-Sources (LEVEL 5)

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

GENEVA, April 29 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation is set to increase its pandemic flu alert level to 5 -- its second-highest level -- within hours, WHO sources said on Wednesday.

"Things are moving fast," one source said.

Another said the WHO was likely to increase the alert by one step, from 4 to 5, in response to the spreading swine flu virus, saying: "I don't think it will be 6."

According to the WHO's pandemic flu response guidelines, a phase 5 alert is called when there is human-to-human spread of virus in at least two countries in one region.

"While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise the organisation, communication and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short," the document reads.

The move by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan to nudge higher the panedemic level -- which is set to occur without another formal emergency committee meeting -- follows intensive consultations with experts and analysis of the spreading virus within and from Mexico, sources said.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT672274.htm

[Buzz Clik]

1. "We don't want the public to panic. We'll do all the panicking for you."

[radfringe]

4. See: TOWEL

and bring a towel...

http://www.towel.org.uk/index.php/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Towel

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels...

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to- hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

quotation from The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams www.douglasadams.com

[uppityperson]

2. Each level involves more things they can do.

What I have read is that each level they go up, they can do more. Rather like declaring a county or state an "disaster" can open up other help.

Hence, they are doing what they should to monitor and contain this. It is very interesting, watching the system at work rather than just finding out about it later.

[Mrs. Overall]

3. The alert levels are misleading. It seems that the levels are raised in order to release

funds/money to fight/research the disease. It should be separate from alert levels that are actually about the disease itself--its spread and its severity.

Does that make sense?

[snowdays]

5. Schools in Queens and Manhattan Struck by Virus; Hundreds Taken Ill.............

Swine Flu Expands to More New York Schools
Schools in Queens and Manhattan Struck by Virus; Hundreds Taken Ill



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/28/AR2009042802191.html?nav=hcmodule


By Keith B. Richburg and Robin Shulman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 28, 2009; 8:46 PM

NEW YORK, April 28 -- The number of confirmed and suspected swine flu cases spread today beyond the Queens high school that has been its epicenter here, with new cases now suspected at a Queens public school for autistic children and a Catholic school in Manhattan, and additional scattered cases in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
This Story

*
Diseases Travel Fast, but So Do Tools to Fight Them
*
Little Boy at the Center of a Viral Storm
*
Interactive Map
*
Argentina, Cuba Cancel Flights From Mexico
*
Four 'Probable' Swine Flu Cases Reported at Delaware Campus
*
Experts Study Differences in Flu's Severity
*
Questions and Answers About Swine Flu
*
U.S. Warns Other Nations Not to Ban Pork
*
Swine Flu Expands to More New York Schools
*
With Epidemic, Face Masks Are Suddenly in Demand
*
Full Coverage: Swine Flu
*
Your Community's Response?
*
Q&A, Transcript: Swine Flu: Cases Confirmed in Israel and New Zealand
*
Swine Flu Videos
*
Swine Flu Infections Spread
*
Anxiety Spreads With Diagnoses at N.Y. School
*
CENTER OF CRISIS: Mexican Schools Shut as Epidemic Hits 'Critical' Point
*
Outbreak Threatens Global Recovery
*
In Europe: E.U. Issues Conflicting Warnings on Travel as First Cases Outside N. America Are Confirmed...........

View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story

Moreover, Gov. David Paterson and state health officials said possible swine flu cases were being investigated in all regions of the state.

New York City remained the hardest hit, with now 45 confirmed cases and many more suspected. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) said the numbers likely include "hundreds" of students, staff members and family members from St. Francis Preparatory school in Queens who have become ill. He said the city would be testing only severely ill people, because most of those hundreds of others can be assumed to be suffering from the virus and testing was not necessary. The school was closed Monday and Tuesday.

Students at St. Francis Prep, which has an enrollment of 2,700, told The Washington Post on Monday that hundreds of students had become ill and taken sick days last week. But only 45 students were tested specifically for swine flu and confirmed to be suffering from the virus. .....

[Sandrine for you]

6. We are all gonna die !"!!!11

[safeinOhio]

8. Just the young and healthy

So, can we old sick bastards have your cars?

[Sandrine for you]

11. Ha Ha Ha ! Good one !

I can see some old bastard in my famely who....

[LeftHander]

7. Best way to avoid Swine Flu....

Headshots.

[Common Sense Party]

9. The WHO: "We Don't Get Flu'd Again!"

[quidam56]

10. Flu, filthy MRSA infected emergency rooms isn't going to be a very good combination...

hospitals are breeding grounds for a deadlier disease than swine flu. MRSA ( Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcal Aurea's ) will kill more Americans than AIDS and the flu combined. Hospitals are infecting us with disease that used to only be found in long term health care settings, unfortunately our health care system is more concerned about profit care that patient care standards may be horrifying, but perfectly acceptable. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 We need a cure for health care in America.