The HHS Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog will be active for two more weeks. The Pandemic Flu Leadership Summit agenda is here. I presented on the panel from 11:15-12:15. I will also be presenting a round table on pandemic flu and preparations at Yearly Kos (I expect the panel to include spokespersons for Effect Measure and Trust For America's Health, along with Michael Greger author of Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching).
One great thing about the internet is the variety of angles one can take to look at the same issue. Here at the Pandemic Flu Leadership Summit, we tackled some substantial issues such as the wisdom of communicating H5N1 preparation vs. an any-pandemic prep vs. an all-hazards prep. Each approach has merit. We all recognize that were it not for H5N1 and its virulence and threat, this HHS summit and blog would not exist. We also recognize that H5N1 is not guaranteed to be the next pandemic virus (it could be an H7 or an H9 or a more common H2). We further recognize that even for those who agree to apply the precautionary principle (action to reduce risk should not await scientific certainty), an all hazards approach may be necessary and prudent for the widest buy-in that does not dilute the result (and that last bit is key, since the goal is to get folks to adequately prepare and not to come up with a plan that is insufficient in scope).
With that in mind, and always on the lookout for best practice, Minnesota's Code Ready program is worth highlighting. As the Strib relates:
Box upon box of pasta and rice, a couple hundred cans of fruits and vegetables, 120 gallons of water. Powdered milk. A first aid kit. A lantern. A weather radio. Plastic sheeting. Duct tape. Bleach.
All in your basement.
State health and public safety officials want Minnesotans to stock up in case of a flu pandemic, terrorism emergency or other widespread disaster. They've launched a $500,000 state campaign dubbed "Code Ready" encouraging Minnesotans to develop plans of action and assemble survival kits for emergencies small and large -- from three days to a year.
I had the opportunity to discuss this with a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Health, who described to me many of the same discussion points (all hazard vs panflu) in preparation for the web site, which features a prep calculator based on family members, their ages, and, yes, pets. You can choose to build a prep kit for 3 days, a week, a month, or a year. The idea is to get started and then build. While this way, both all hazard and flu prep users can custom build their preps to suit their needs, pandemic flu was the issue that drove the project. More from the Strib:
As of last week, about 1,700 people had gone through the site's pages to create their own kits. Ten times that number have viewed parts of the site, officials said, with hits coming even from Asia, Africa and Australia.
There's been another 5,000 contacts in the offline awareness campaign. In addition, a survey done by the University of Minnesota last September for baseline purposes, and repeated this coming September, will look at Minnesotans and their prep attitudes, and whether the campaign has had impact.
Including pets in the equation seems like a great addition. Without that emotional kick (be it pets or kids), the reason to use the kit falls flat:
"It's ridiculous. It's just way too much stuff for anybody to have at home. I can't imagine what they're having us prepare for," said Tracy Eberly, who lives in south Minneapolis. "If society breaks down to the point where we need all that food, trust me, we've got other problems."
Nonetheless, there's a start here that would be great to see everyone make. After all, there's going to be a need for food AND addressing of those 'other problems' should a category 5 pandemic break out. That's why planning needs to be so extensive, and why it needs to be done in advance, and if it can be done in a way that changes attitudes as well as supply facts, all the better.
That "pet planner" addition may be the necessary tool for more than a few to take this issue seriously. And maybe it's a good way to bring veterinarians to the table, and add another professional society to the mix. Right now, whether it's, CDC, HHS, the states or the professional societies, we need information out there for the public from every credible source we can get. Many voices, one message: panflu prep is necessary, important and possible. After all, your pets and your children expect and deserve nothing less.