my real life adventures

Bird Flu Pandemic

Isn't it great! Today on Oprah (shut-up) they had a guy that consults with the UN, the White House, the CDC and a bunch of other top level agencies and he said it's coming. Evidently the bird flu is starting to mutate in Turkey and if it mutates so that it can pass from human to human we're going to end up with a pandemic similar to the one back in 1918

So Oprah asked this guy... what can we do? He talked about getting a special kind of mask that creates a seal around your mouth and nose and then admitted that he didn't have enough of them to last the whole term of the pandemic - 9-18 months. Oh and gloves, cause if you get the masks the outside of the mask gets contaminated and then if you take it off and touch it w/o washing your hands you'll end up rubbing it in your eyes, nose or mouth.

Oh and the people who are going to be the most affected by this virus are people between the ages of 20 and 40's especially vulnerable will be pregnant women. I imagine the hundreds of thousands of people who watch Oprah are searching the internet tonight searching for the face masks and gloves they need to protect their families.

So, I did a little research - if we assume one mask per day per family member for 2 years (the longest estimated length of the pandemic) with 4 family members that's 2,920 masks. I did a quick google search and after reading a back order note (resulting from the Oprah show) found that I could buy that many N95 rated masks for $1,138.80. I'm sure all the people on my street are also asking about our town's chlorine supply and if we'll have enough to last a whole two years. Good grief.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do stuff to be prepared. It's wise and prudent to be prepared. I even think I'll start squirling away a couple cans of whatever we have at the back of the cupboard that we don't eat this month, I'll probably even buy an extra bag of flour or oatmeal every other week and tuck it in a dry spot in the basement. It just seems a little extreme of Oprah, given the zombie like qualities of her audience, to say on national tv "I feel kind of hopeless."!

Reminds me of that hymn - My hope is in the Lord who gave Himself for me
the author of that song lived right through the 1918 pandemic

posted by Heather @ 10:14 PM