MindSpinner

When Katrina moved inland and northward, no longer a hurricane but just a lot of rain, a truck making the circle in our cul de sac veered up over the curb and into my yard at an angle, rolling forward for some 20 feet until its front right wheel reached the sidewalk. The wheel left a rut more than six inches deep in sod so water-logged I might have wrung it out like a sponge.

I have not filled in the rut with new sod - other tasks have always seemed more important whenever tasks are to be weighed, prioritized, and completed. I’ve also been annoyed at the thought of having to buy dirt to fill the rut - several bags’ worth - and seed to sow it. I had enough to contend with already. I’ve resisted the job in a way I would not have had done if I had made the rut myself.

But just now when I look out my window at the blue-purple shadow bissecting the straw-colored grass, the shadow begins to speak of something other than a careless jerk in a truck mucking up my front yard. It is even mum about its rightful spot on the to-do list. Instead it traces as with a careful finger some memorial lesson about what negligence and nature can bring about together whether in an unfortunate city or a soggy front yard. Just now, the rut, my rut, does not need filling up and paving over. It needs to be the blue-purple shadow in the straw-colored grass before the green comes back. When it wants to be something else, it will tell me so.

The U.S. government continues to refine its message regarding pandemic preparedness. See the latest on sheltering in place from the State Department:

How to Prepare for “Sheltering-In-Place”

Avian Influenza

Health professionals are concerned that the continued spread of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) virus among animals in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe has the potential to significantly threaten human health. If a virus such as H5N1 mutates and spreads easily from one person to another, avian influenza may break out globally. While there are no reports of sustained human-to-human transmission of avian influenza, the U.S. government and international health agencies are preparing for a possible pandemic.

Depending on the severity of a pandemic, commercial airlines might drastically curtail or even cease operations. Travel restrictions could also impede people from returning to the United States or fleeing to other countries. For these reasons, it may make more sense to “shelter-in-place” (i.e., stay home and practice “social distancing” to avoid contagion) for an appropriate period of time.

United States Residents: The Department of Health and Human Services suggests that US residents prepare two weeks of emergency supplies (food, water, medicines, etc.) in order to shelter-in-place during an influenza pandemic.

American Citizens Abroad: Due to varying conditions overseas, Americans abroad should evaluate their situation and prepare emergency supplies accordingly (non-perishable food, potable water, medicines, etc.) for the possibility of sheltering-in-place for at least two and up to twelve weeks. Water purification techniques such as boiling, filtering and/or adding chlorine to locally available rainwater, swimming pools, lakes, rivers and wells may replace the need to store large quantities of water.

What can you do on a daily basis? Cover your cough. Wash your hands regularly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to eradicate viruses and bacteria or apply a hand sanitizer with a minimum of 60% alcohol content when soap and water are not available. Stay home if you are sick. Vaccinate yourself against seasonal flu.

Travel: American citizens living in or traveling to countries with human or animal cases of H5N1 virus should consider the potential risks. Keep informed of the latest medical guidance and practical information and plan accordingly. Consult www.travel.state.gov for the latest tips on international travel.

On-Line Resources: Detailed information about suggested preparations, as well as planning checklists, are available on the U.S. government’s one-stop web site on pandemic influenza (www.pandemicflu.gov), also the World Health Organization (www.who.int/en/) and the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov) websites.

Excuse me, but I’m still mightily curious about weeks three through twelve of a pandemic wave here in these United States. Are there underground storage facilities brimming with MREs and bottled water for U.S. residents one and all? Have we arranged for manna from heaven? Will Santa and his eight tiny reindeer be delivering food and water down my chimney and yours on week three and every week thereafter?

Here is the message regarding pandemic flu preparation that went out to 60,000 Americans living in Hong Kong and Macau on 11/3. The message: stockpile food and water to last for twelve weeks, the possible duration of a single wave of a pandemic.

AVIAN FLU

American Citizens Services Newsletter
Pandemic Influenza — Preparing for Possible Shelter-In-Place

U.S. Consulate General for Hong Kong and Macau
November 3, 2006

The U.S. Department of State recently sent a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts entitled “Pandemic Influenza: Preparing for Possible Shelter-In-Place”. The cable’s main intent was to provide guidance to all staff regarding “shelter-in-place”. That is, in the event of severe pandemic influenza with high morbidity, the public may be advised to self-quarantine. Therefore, current guidance notes that families should be prepared to “shelter-in-place” for up to twelve weeks, and maintain sufficient food and water supplies to accommodate that entire period.

Just as in the United States, U.S. government employees and their families overseas have primary responsibility for maintaining adequate supplies of food to shelter-in-place. This also applies to private U.S. citizens. For the long term, families are advised to store foods that are non-perishable, do not require refrigeration, or preparation (including the use of water), or cooking. The cable also advises that families should store one gallon of water per person per day.

Potable Water

Please note that at this time, Hong Kong’s water supply is potable. In the event of complete infrastructure breakdown, water supply that is currently potable in some areas or countries may not remain so. However, water can be purified in several ways. Boiling is a reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and continue boiling for at least ten minutes. Also, regular Clorox Bleach isn’t just a laundry-aid, it’s a lifesaver (use only regular Clorox bleach, not Fresh Scent or Lemon Fresh). In an emergency, one gallon of Regular Clorox Bleach purifies 3,800 gallons of drinking water. First, let water stand until particles settle. Filter the particles if necessary with layers of cloth, coffee filters, or fine paper towels. Pour the clear water into an uncontaminated container and add Regular Clorox Bleach per the below indicated ratio, mix well, and wait 30 minutes. Water should have a slight bleach odor.

Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification:

2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water
8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water
1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.

To insure that Clorox Bleach is at its full strength, rotate or replace your storage bottle every three months. Also, don’t forget to sanitize the water storage containers. To sanitize containers and utensils, mix one tablespoon of Regular Clorox Bleach with one gallon of water, creating a Sanitizing Solution. Always wash and rinse the items first, then let each item soak in Clorox Bleach Sanitizing Solution for two minutes. Drain and air dry.
Please remember that water in dehumidifiers is also potable, but be sure to sanitize the dehumidifier water container.
Emergency Supply List

The U.S. Government’s “one-stop” web site on avian influenza, www.PandemicFlu.gov, provides a sample list of foodstuffs and other emergency supplies for stocking:
Examples of food and non-perishables:

Ready-to-eat canned meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, beans and soups Protein or fruit bars Dry cereal or granola Peanut butter or nuts Dried fruit Crackers Canned juices Bottled water Canned or jarred baby food and formula Pet food

Examples of medical, health and emergency supplies:

• Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood-pressure monitoring equipment
• Soap and/or alcohol-based (60% - 95%) hand wash
• Medicines for fever, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen
• Thermometer Anti-diarrhea medication Vitamins
• Fluids with electrolytes Cleansing agents
• Flashlight Batteries
• Portable radio Manual can opener
• Garbage bags
• Tissues, toilet paper

To better help plan for “shelter-in-place”, all U.S. citizens are encouraged to refer to the www.PandemicFlu.gov website, as well as the World Health Organization website (www.who.int/en/). Please also visit the U.S. Consulate General website for further information: Avian Flu.

We will continue to distribute and share pertinent information on Influenza Pandemic Preparedness as we receive it.

And here is the same as it appeared on on the morning of November 9, some days after the CDC began receiving calls asking when Americans living in the U.S. would be advised of the 12-week recommendation. (As of this morning, Google cache still has the old version.)

Avian Flu

American Citizens Services Newsletter
Pandemic Influenza — Preparing for Possible Shelter-In-Place

U.S. Consulate General for Hong Kong and Macau
November 9, 2006

The U.S. Department of State recently sent a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts entitled “Pandemic Influenza: Preparing for Possible Shelter-In-Place”. The cable’s main intent was to provide guidance to all staff regarding “shelter-in-place”. That is, in the event of severe pandemic influenza with high morbidity, the public may be advised to self-quarantine. The Department of Health and Human Services, via its pandemicflu.gov website, advises that families have on hand two weeks of emergency supplies (food, water, medicines) in the event of a pandemic influenza.

The rest of the page remains unchanged. The drastic revision - from twelve weeks to two weeks - occurred after people began calling the CDC to ask when Americans in America would be advised by their government to prepare for a twelve-week period. No doubt the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC slapped the State Department on the hand for deviating from the official message being peddled to the public.

Behind the scenes, key people are being instructed to prepare to shelter in place for three months in case of a flu pandemic. In many instances, the message is construed as an urgent one. Do it NOW, they are told. This is, in fact, no secret, as many have told their extended families and posted to word to flu discussion sites. A few hardy experts are trying to spread the word. (Just google David Nabarro, Robert Webster, or Michael Osterholm and pandemic flu.) But the American government is telling the public at large to prepare for only two weeks.

We are told part of the truth - that there is an elevated risk of a pandemic and will be for some time to come, such that preparations must be made - but we are not told enough of the truth about what we may face (high mortality) and how extensively we need to prepare in order to give us a fighting chance. There’s one message that goes to valued citizens in critical positions and a drastically different one that goes out to the rest of us. We are not only “on our own” with regard to taking care of ourselves and our loved ones during a pandemic, we are also “on our own” to figure out the real deal and what we need to do about it.

8:00 p.m. - Now the entire page is gone and simply redirects. POOF! But the genie’s out of the bottle, isn’t it?

An eight-point buck
crosses a harvest field
gold at daybreak, his regal antlers
lit by morning.

My son
achieves his first string of successes,
at just shy of eighteen, a recruiter’s target
etched now on his forehead.

And what do I think
when I see them both,
the buck and the boy almost a man -
both beautiful, young, and strong -
stepping out boldly into possibility
without grasping danger?

What do I think but “Run!
It’s almost hunting season!”

At CNN the morning headline reads
“Bush’s message: Democrats will cost you money.”

There is nothing to do but snort at the lie
and growl: “Republicans will cost you sons and daughters.”

I’m tired of hearing
that I’m supposed to care most
about money, and less
about futures
and planets
justice
and truth and even the life of my
own child.

I’m going a-hunting myself tomorrow, at the ballot box.

I didn’t write a blog post last weekend because I was drafting pandemic flu flyers instead, for very limited distribution in my town. The copy was distilled from Flu Wiki’s materials for Pandemic Flu Awareness Week and information at pandemicflu.gov. I just can’t stand it that people all around me here have no clue that a pandemic is a very real possibility and are thus in no way preparing. In the course of less than a week, those flu flyers have been adapted for different audiences and locales in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. They’ve been been viewed online hundreds of times; thousands of copies have been made; versions are even finding their way, with much able help, into a few newspapers here and there, potentially extending their reach to several millions.

I had not grasped the potential that people working together through the Internet have for effecting such feats. I sat down last Sunday morning, cross-legged on my bed, determined only to do a small useful thing in my town and in my neighborhood and, as an additional step, sought feedback and posted a link to the flyer in the discussion forum on Flu Wiki. Flu Wiki itself began with a small group of individuals who envisioned the Wiki as means by which people could put their heads together, solve problems, educate the public, and encourage preparedness.

In view of the week’s events, I cannot help but think of Gandalf’s words to Bilbo Baggins at the end of The Hobbit, “You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!” I’ve never thought of myself as being anything other than “quite a little fellow.” That entirely suites my somewhat retiring personality.

Though Bilbo was grateful to hear Gandalf say this, it is becoming ever clearer that the world needs a lot of little fellows to do what they can. Apparently, the Director of the CDC agrees. In a recent post entitled “This blog can save your life!,” Jay Bernhardt considers the role of the new media in raising public awareness of health issues. Here is an excerpt:

Above and beyond real-time information gathering and message dissemination, the social and community qualities of new media can advance health and risk communication by changing how we understand our problems and how we construct our solutions. News groups, chat rooms, and bulletin boards have been used for exchanging health information and as online support groups since the earliest days of the web. Today’s Web 2.0 tools that leverage and harness the “knowledge of the crowd” offer great potential for solving our most difficult public health problems and building and empowering communities of change. One great example is FluWiki, whose stated purpose is “to help local communities prepare for and perhaps cope with a possible influenza pandemic, [which is] a task previously ceded to local, state and national governmental public health agencies.”

Controlling and mitigating public health emergencies, especially those that are the size and scale of an influenza pandemic, will absolutely require the active engagement and participation of the public and all sectors of society. New media efforts to engage and galvanize the public like FluWiki, Green Hammer, and the Slidell Hurricane Damage Blog are critical to CDC’s ability to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic and to other possible public health emergencies.

Flu Wiki is, as far as I can tell, the most active pandemic flu-related community, though it is hardly the only laudable pandemic flu forum, and several excellent blogs focus regularly on H5N1 news. Any one person doing what he or she can makes a difference. Any group working together multiplies results many times over.

One might wish, however, that the biggest fellows, for their part, would do more, and in a timely manner. Too many of those flyers, paid for by volunteers and vastly insufficient in number, will end up in the trash, tossed there by people who are waiting for a clearer, louder, official word which may well come too late. No one can say precisely when a pandemic will emerge, but we are surely standing at the brink, peering into a tragic probability.