Finally. The World Health Organization (WHO) has gotten around to declaring what everyone else knew for weeks. We have a real, true, honest, full-blown pandemic with A/H1N1 influenza. The disease can be passed easily from person to person. About 29,000 confirmed cases world-wide, with 144 deaths. The disease has spread to multiple countries in every continent (including Australia, a country that thinks of itself as a continent). That's "Level 6" in WHO language. It doesn't get any worse. Technically.
That "technically" is significant. The Level 6 declaration recognizes the extent to which the disease has spread geographically, not the severity of the situation (which is the more important issue). In Canada, where we could have 3,000 to 4,000 deaths in a "normal" 'flu season, we've had FOUR deaths attributed to A/H1N1 (this latest monster 'flu). Four deaths; not four thousand.
So, wash your hands when you get home from being wherever. Wash before meals. Sneeze into your elbow. Etc.
I'm not suggesting we should ignore the problem. I am suggesting, as usual, that we keep the whole thing in its appropriate context. "Let's be careful out there," continues to be the appropriate phrase.
One other thought. One way to possibly curb the spread of this illness: wash your hands before you send an e-mail or blog post. You can trust the Bear on that. ;)
Friday, 12 June 2009
13 comments:
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ha! it won't hurt to wash your hands after playing with a mouse!
ReplyDelete... and I feel sometimes I should wear a mask when my grandkids come over! they are always sick and snotting, talk about germy!
LOL...like your final word of caution!!! ~Janine
ReplyDeleteListen Bear! you better watch out, because a certain Miss Piggy type personality, who hails from the great land down under,might fly over there and hiya! and aah choo!You're a goner.
ReplyDelete® Bella: Thanks for stopping by for a visit, and leaving a great comment. Hand washing after playing with a mouse is a good plan. What kind of mouse do you have -- white-footed mouse, house mouse, deer mouse? Or were you thinking computer mouse? Anyhow, thanks for the suggestion. And yes, grandkids are wonderful germ spreaders. G3 (my wife) and I can attest to that!
ReplyDelete® Janine: Put that in just to make sure we don't take ourselves too seriously, while not ignoring the reality.
® Natsy: G3 just got back from being with a whole bunch of Aussies. If she didn't get it, and doesn't pass it to me, I'll have no fear of pigs from Oz, even if they flu over here. Besides, Bears are tough.
Keeping it all in perspective is the key - NOT as the media would lead us to believe as usual.
ReplyDelete® Yes, Diane: Perspective is important -- prevents panic (usually).
ReplyDeleteI heard someone from the CDC say that we shouldn't "overly panic." Obviously, a moderate amount of panic is justified.
ReplyDeleteI thought you were pulling back from blogging. Is it my imagination, or have you actually added a blog?
® Snow: Well, I have threatened a couple of times to cut back, but I seem not to be doing so.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, I've actually dropped on blog, "The Ethical Pilgrimage." Stuff I would have posted there is now appearing on "Bears Noting" (which has a more journalistic bent) or "Desert Epiphanies" (which is intended to be more spiritual). "Chrome on the Range" is my main blog, and covers the "ordinary stuff of life" kinds of posts.
However, I spend more time visiting other peoples' sites, and leaving comments, that I do posting on my own. I tend not to post unless I've got something half-intelligent to say -- which isn't all that often.
Ahhhhh-chooooo!!
ReplyDelete® Bless you, Joanne!
ReplyDeleteHow can a bear sneeze safely without a handkerchief? For which, surely a bag would be required!!! I'm thinking more a bum bag though having accepted that a shoulder bag could be awkward when negotiating the forests.....
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder that if there are all these pandemics recorded but nothing seems to happen in terms of severity that in the end people will ignore them along the lines of the boy who called wolf - so that when a really severe one does come then it will be far harsher.
ReplyDelete® Welsh Girl: I sneeze into my elbow, just like people do.
ReplyDeleteNO, I'm not any kind of bag bear!
® Tattie: The World Health Organization reached the same conclusion about a month ago. While they stick with their pandemic index (which covers the spread of a disease) they're also developing a severity index. A/H1N1 is all over the place (thus WHO level 6), but isn't as severe as anticipated.
(Sorry to be a bit slow in responding.)