19 October 2006
Marker – at 18:53
I live in Omaha. Last night on our local news, a new computer program was introduced that is currently in the testing phase, soon to be activated. I only caught the middle of it, although I believe it originated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. A female doctor was the spokesperson for the program. Anyway, it tracks all “called in” absences across the state from schools and work places. It also tracks all diseased/dead animals, be it bird, pig, squirrels, whatever. I imagine road kill is exempt. Anyway, the story line explained that if a significant jump in both categories occurred, “appropriate action” such as a news alert, a quarantine, whatever, would be implemented. This sounded very proactive to me, and get this - it’s updated every 15 SECONDS. If anyone wants to investigate further, the story I saw was on WOWT, a local NBC affiliate in Omaha.