WHO Considering Raising Pandemic Alert

The sky isn’t falling in. We’re not all going to be wearing space suits to stay healthy. And no, we don’t have to panic, which is what some people may do when they read headlines such as the one above. That being said, the fact that the World Health Organization is considering raising the pandemic level to 6 – the highest level – is newsworthy.

Some people feel that pandemic automatically means something like the Spanish flu of the early 1900s. That’s not so. A pandemic, by definition, is an illness that has been found to be spreading beyond local areas, across the world. An epi demic is a situation where you have an outbreak of illness in a few specific areas, pan demic crosses borders and oceans.

Illnesses that are subject of pandemics aren’t necessarily fatal, just as with epidemics. We can have an epidemic of chicken pox – for most people, chicken pox is not fatal. Uncomfortable, yes, fatal, no. Same thing with pandemics. Although we’re familiar with hearing about diseases like malaria and now H1N1 virus, the term pandemic doesn’t mean the illness is deadly.

What does a raised pandemic level mean for you? At this point, not much. What the raised level does is more on the governmental and healthcare levels. When a pandemic occurs, they need to be ready to take care of people who fall ill so they need to be sure that they have the plans in place and the resources available.

At the same time, individuals should be prepared for any type of emergency, including a pandemic. Granted, if a severe illness were to hit, you’d likely still have electricity and water, as well as access to stores, etc. But, if an illness hits your community hard, the truck drivers who deliver groceries to the stores may be too ill to drive, the people who run the stores may be home sick. If you power goes down, the people who fix it may be down to a skeleton crew because many coworkers are home ill. These are examples as to why you should be prepared – just in case.

How?

A standard emergency kit that can help you and your family for at least a few days, longer if possible. This should include things like bottled water, canned or dried food, a method of cooking and fuel (such as a fondue pot, which can warm up and cook several things), toilet tissue, flashlights, candles, etc.

Is this virus “the” one to cause a big problem across the world? No-one knows, but if it’s not, which we hope, it’s a great trial run for when it does happen.

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