Avian Flu: Personal Preparedness Must Include These 4 Critical Areas

Recent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have been powerful reminders of how destructive the forces of nature can be and how preparing for them can mitigate their effects. Avian influenza, commonly known as “bird flu,” is a powerful force of nature that we must prepare for, or suffer potentially devastating health and financial consequences. Bird flu is a contagious viral disease, just like regular seasonal flu, but it can be 70 times more deadly. And, due to the nature of the virus, it could be more deadly for healthy children and adults and pregnant women, just as the so-called Spanish flu of 1918-19 was.

The US National Intelligence Council’s Project 2020 report, Mapping the Global Future, identified a global pandemic (an epidemic that is worldwide) as the most significant threat to the global economy. According to Shigeru Omi, regional director of the World Health Organization, “the world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic.” And according to Dr. Robert Webster, a world-renowned influenza researcher at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, “we could be heading for a global catastrophe.” Infectious disease experts have repeatedly warned that it’s not about whether an avian flu pandemic is coming; it’s just a matter of when.

Judging from the federal government’s staggeringly inadequate response at all levels to Hurricane Katrina, which is emblematic of its ineptitude in dealing with major national emergencies, its slow and perfunctory response to avian flu to date, and its lack of leadership in this matter. it is clear that you cannot count on the government to protect you. You must take the initiative to prepare yourself and your family for the next avian flu pandemic.

There are four essential areas you need to address to prepare for the avian flu pandemic: 1) “social distancing”; 2) commodities, including food, 3) personal protective equipment (PPE), and 4) financial preparedness. Social distancing refers to your life and work situations when the pandemic occurs. Without going to extremes, you want to keep yourself and your family as far away from other people as possible. Bird flu is like regular seasonal flu in that you get it from other people, not birds. (Although it is possible to acquire the viral infection from birds, it is much more likely that if you do become infected, you have acquired the virus from another person, not from a bird.)

The bird flu virus is extremely contagious; It is spread through casual contact with a contagious person (who may not have any symptoms for the first 24 hours of infection), by touching contaminated objects, and through the air. Because of this, you want to stay as far away from people as possible, and that means spending more time at home. Your children will not be in school, they will be at home. If your house is on the 73rd floor of an apartment building in New York City, how will you avoid other people? You may want to think about an alternative living situation for a few months.

The same principle applies to your work environment. If you can telecommute, that’s the best scenario. If you don’t work remotely now, but because of the type of work you do, it might be a possibility, discuss it with your employer. If you will have to continue to work closely with others in your workplace, what can be done there to help protect yourself and others from infection? How can policies and procedures be modified to minimize contact with co-workers or customers? Are there hand washing stations available? What are your employer’s plans to deal with the coming pandemic? Discuss these and other related topics with your employer and co-workers.

The second area to be addressed is “Commodities, including food”. There will be sporadic difficulties in manufacturing or producing goods, because workers all over the world will be sick or absent from work. There will also be supply chain disruptions, both because workers will be sick or absent from work, and because of regional, national, and/or international travel restrictions. These issues will result in a decrease or unavailability of most or all of the products that we now have easy access to.

Basics like soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and pretty much anything else you can buy at stores like Wal-Mart will be difficult or impossible to obtain, for periods of weeks or months at a time. This includes the most important product: food. The federal government always tells us to stock up on three days of emergency supplies. This will not be enough preparation for the next deadly avian flu pandemic. Limited food is likely to be available in stores. Also, stores are places you want to avoid anyway, because there may be potentially contagious people there. Stock up now so you have enough staples, including food, to last for months.

The third area to address is so-called personal protective equipment (PPE), which you will need to wear, depending on the circumstances. PPE includes special face masks, called N95 respirators, that help prevent infection from inhalation of the virus. Remember that avian influenza (“bird flu”) is a highly contagious disease that can be transmitted through the air. The only way to counteract this source of infection is through the use of special N95 respirators. These are disposable face masks that can be worn for up to eight hours.

N95 masks were the type of masks worn by hospital workers during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic that affected several cities around the world, including Toronto, Canada. Surgical masks or other common face masks, which are sometimes used when sanding, painting, etc., are not effective.
Other items of PPE include disposable latex or vinyl gloves, goggles or face shields, liquid-impervious gowns, and sometimes disposable booties or disposable headgear. Keep in mind that during the pandemic, most people who get infected will need to be cared for at home, not in crowded and overwhelmed hospitals. This means caregivers caring for loved ones at home need to be protected from the virus, just like hospital workers who work in hospitals. The only way to be protected is to wear PPE. (Simply washing your hands, the federal government’s top recommendation for in-home caregivers, won’t cut it.) Once the pandemic begins, the demand for PPE will be huge and supplies will be in very short supply, or non-existent. Buy now or suffer the consequences later.

The last area to be addressed before the avian flu pandemic hits is personal finances. This is an area where governments at all levels have been silent. However, preparing your finances to support yourself and your family during (and after) the pandemic may be the most important area of ​​preparation. Although the bird flu virus is deadly and many of us will get sick, most of us will not die from it; only one or two percent of the population is likely to die. The vast majority will live, but under what circumstances?

Think of Hurricane Katrina, where most people survived, but where millions of thousands are now homeless and underemployed or unemployed. Due to the potentially severe local, national and international economic consequences of the avian flu pandemic, many of us will suffer financially. Companies around the world will not be able to manufacture or distribute products or provide services. There will be layoffs and some companies will close completely. At a minimum, people will be out of work for periods of weeks or months. Your child or children, if you have any, will be at home, not at school or daycare. Will that force a parent to stay home from work to care for them? How will you pay your rent or mortgage and your bills under these circumstances?

In Benjamin Franklin he said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” When it comes to bird flu, preparation can mean the difference between life and death, how much you and your family eat, and whether or not you can pay your bills, including rent or mortgage. The government will not solve these problems for you. Just like Smoky the Bear’s warning, “Only you can prevent wildfires.” Only you can take stock of this situation and do something about it. Think about it and then do something about it.

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