Get ready for a lockdown......U.S. plan for flu pandemic revealed

[Twist_U_Up]

U.S. Plan For Flu Pandemic Revealed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/15/AR2006041500901.html

-snip-
President Bush is expected to approve soon a national pandemic influenza response plan that identifies more than 300 specific tasks for federal agencies, including determining which frontline workers should be the first vaccinated and expanding Internet capacity to handle what would probably be a flood of people working from their home computers.

The Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if U.S. mints cannot operate. The Pentagon, anticipating difficulties acquiring supplies from the Far East, is considering stockpiling millions of latex gloves. And the Department of Veterans Affairs has developed a drive-through medical exam to quickly assess patients who suspect they have been infected.-snip-

-snip-
To keep the 1.8 million federal workers healthy and productive through a pandemic, the Bush administration would tap into its secure stash of medications, cancel large gatherings, encourage schools to close and shift air traffic controllers to the busier hubs -- probably where flu had not yet struck. Retired federal employees would be summoned back to work, and National Guard troops could be dispatched to cities facing possible "insurrection," said Jeffrey W. Runge, chief medical officer at the Department of Homeland Security.-snip-

-snip-
"Any community that fails to prepare -- with the expectation that the federal government can come to the rescue -- will be tragically wrong," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a speech April 10. The administration is posting information on the Internet at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/ .

[Deja Q]

1. Lockdown... but I thought isolationism and protectionism were wrong?

:shrug:

[WI_DEM]

2. National Guard dispatched? aren't a big percentage in Iraq?

[NanceGreggs]

3. Sooooooo BU$HCO!

"Treasury Department is poised to sign agreements with other nations to produce currency if U.S. mints cannot operate."

Let's worry about the MONEY before anything else ...

[Sinti]

4. Sambucol is 99% effective against H5N1

as I mentioned this other bird flu thread. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x951931

You can get it at the natural foods store, or just buy elderberry extract, as they have the same properties :)

Funny, I'm much more afraid of the administration's reaction to any kind of epidemic than I am of the potential damage from this planned-for bird flu pandemic.