Previous thread (September) here
Welcome to October team - here’s hoping it is another quiet month for us all - apart from trying to convince TPTB to get properly planned and prepped.
I second your hope.
The Pressures on……………………………………………..
………. … . … ……..
I’m staying away from Perth airport……I can tell you.
Blue - they’re coming to take you away ha ha hee hee, to the funny farm (typing faster and faster) - sorry cannot remember who performed that particular song to give credit for it ;-)
..Reminds me of a Motorhead tune tho…
That’s it:
The Watcher: “Well it’s nice up here on the..Funnyfarm”…something like that.
Very Cool Song. (Off the album,On Parole)
“Check it Out!”(Black Eyed Peas),Ha.
Oh…and in case you didn’t realise…those false alarms seem to be moving from the east coast to the west coast; and Perth is on the west coast..”oh!”
bump
Just so you are not left wondering where I am - I am taking a break for a couple of weeks and will view (and possibly) post intermittently. Will miss you guys in the meantime. See you soon.
Just popped in for a quick catchup. Looks like it will take more than a few minutes to catch all the news. See you again in about a week ;-)
Hi all;
Just posted a flyer tweaked for Australia to distribute any way we can. Have a read and give me some feedback please.
http://mindspinner.net/docs/Community_Pandemic_flyer.pdf
If you want your suburb name in the title, let me know.
Great stuff! Maybe take suburb out and have neighbours and I could use it. Also put in the link to Woodson’s home care article.
Call ot Wild;
That’s a good idea, just make it generic.
As to putting in the link to Woodson’s doc, I don’t know about that. Don’t get me wrong, I think his manual is great, but here are my concerns, and tell me if I’m wrong. It seems that his document presumes that you can do something effective by home nursing somebody with flu, sort of like “keep the electrolytes and fluids OK & they will pull through”. However from what I have read of the case reports of those that have been infected with H5N1, and the ARDS & multi organ system failure mechanism, it seems to me that home care is pretty much useless.
Of course the virus may mutate to a less pathogenic form & that would be good, and then home care will be extremely important. But shouldn’t we emphasize that you don’t want to get infected in the first place? Don’t rely at all on some medical intervention saving your life?
That’s the way I’ve approached our preps. I’m assuming if I or any of my family get infected….it’s all over red rover.
Scares the hell out of me, as well it should.
RobT at 22.40 Intro: Been browsing for some time here and elsewhere since H5N1 became public. I have had a look at USA Pandemic awareness flyer and your ‘tweaked’ version. Have a suggestion that may make it more relevant to to those who feel that what is happing elsewhere in the world is a long way away and will only be important when ‘our’ govt and/or media reports it. NZ is very close to everyone and has a govt site with same urgency as USA govt site. Good prep page at http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/pandemicinfluenza-resources-checklists. Might help people who look, start to question why our govt has ‘nothing to worry about stance’ (some information attached to http://www.health.gov.au ) whereas our nearest neighbour (NZ)thinks H5N1 is a real worry (dedicated site) and is telling it’s residents to prepare for pandemic.
Hi folks
Just setting up my new computer so I should be back with you all from tomorrow. The person that invents the “setup made easy”, including just one cable …. ah well, I can but dream!
Omega-Sydney - I am a Kiwi and consider myself so fortunate that our Ministry of Health has taken this all so seriously. Yesterday there were major promotions at train stations and bus stops, giving away water bottles and brochures encouraging people to preapre for an emergency.
Omega-Sydney;
Hi and welcome to our humble Antipodian thread. Yes, good idea on the Kiwi site as a reference. Thanks for the suggestion, that’s just the kind of feedback that is helpful.
I just spoke with a very senior government official, who asked to remain nameless. And for good reason. Let’s just say that there is a “possibility” that the plans being made here in Oz are just “paper plans” for the sake of appearances. I truly hope that this is not the case, but I would suggest you prep like hell, folks cuz there ain’t going to be no cavalry. The more I learn, the greater the motivation to fully prep.
I’ll be facinated to see what comes out of the Clumpson exercise, and if it is made public, warts and all.
It would seem to be slowing down somewhat, yeh?
One case in Egypt and one more in Indonesia, but we may be seeing the end…what would you think about that statement?
Blue - have you got your blinkers on again? “One more in Indonesia” = one more case made official to WHO. Have you been talking to government officials again? “Nothing to see here, move along”. The situation is not alarming but it most certainly has not gone away. Which country will be next?
Blue;
It has ever been thus. Dies down for while, everybody gets hopeful, then bingo, another cluste or two or three.
This is what is expected. We’re in the early boiling phase to use the boiling water analogy. A few early bubbles….
That doesn’tmean the heat has been turned off.
Went back through the WHO chronology again. The 2005 article needs to be updated to include the Indo cases. If you include the Indo situation, it’s a disaster coming.
I’m also starting to think like some gov’ts reportedly think. That is, it’s impossible to combat a large scale pandemic. Just let it do what it always does and that is burn through the population until the virus dies down and immunity is acquired.
Think also of this; it may be doing its third wave in Asia now and mutating into a worse virus, higher CFR, which Europe, US and Australia will then get as a first wave.
Well something still has to be infected…no govt. officials-just watching for the news breaks.
From my son’s CSIRO magazine: Upcoming Forum, ‘Is the world ready for another ‘Bird Flu’ pandemic? Prof Ralf Tripp (Univ. of Georgia, USA) Wed 18 Oct, 5pm to 615pm,CSIRO Discovery, Clunies Ross St, Black Mountain, Canberra.
anybody here participating in Operation Cumpston - it starts next weem - I believe.
Hi kyangadac. Yes starts Monday. I’m trying to leave a message for David Nabarro who will be here for the exercise. I wish I was participating, wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall?
There is a news piece today about the IC conference in Hobart, where they are estimating the CFR to be 35%. This is the first media piece I’ve seen that has a higher CFR than the usual 0.6% nonsense that is promulgated by TPTB.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1765033.htm
I hope the word is getting out.
Yes we would all love to hear what real stories come out from the exercise.
with summer on the horizon its hard to think of a flu epidemic - it seems more realistic in Europe with darkening days etc… makes it hard to motivate for prepping! when the beach beckons
I have just posted an item to the news thread about South Australia increasing funding for BF - gowns, masks and gloves for HCWs but here is a great quote from the article
“Health Minister John Hill says northern Australia is more at risk of getting the disease, but South Australia still needs to be prepared.”
Hellooo - last time I looked, I did not see a massive solid inpenetrable bubble covering SA - there is definitely one over this guy’s thinking!
AnnieB;
Welcome back and sorry to hear about your techno troubles. Don’t cha just hate computers when they don’t work !
I heard South Australia will keep out a pandemic coming down from northern Australia by having every car crossing the state border monitored for fever, so everyone will have their temperature taken just like it was Random Breath Testing (RBT). But instead it will be CTT (Comprehensive Temperature Testing). All those that have a high fever will be turned back at the border and a full history of every contact they have had in the last 48 hours will be taken and sent to Canberra where they will correlate the data and then have teams of thousands of epidemiologists track down every contact. Oh and they’ll do the same for flights in from northern Australia as well.
Well RobT I think that is still being very short-sighted - why are they going to let anyone from “up north” anywhere near the south? After all, the only reason they would be moving south is to avoid the BF so just turn them all around and send them back! Close the airports to all non-SA flights - just do a state-wide SIP. Afterall, there is plenty of time to plan for it - at least 2–3 years before anything could possibly happen up north anyway according to the same person (see the rest of the article).
As to techno troubles - if you want to read more, go to the thread “things to do while bugging out” ;-)
Hey AnnieB, I was just kidding! Sorry, I have a warped sense of humour. Of course it is ridiculous if anyone thinks they can keep the pandemic contained.
I read your thread re your adventures with the computers, that was what I was referring to.
Hi RobT - sorry - no offence taken - I thought it was humorous too - hence my logical suggestions above ;-)
Anyway, according to this report, you have absolutely nothing to worry about!
Australia ready for bird flu - Abbott [link http://tinyurl.com/y2xe87 ]
By Paul Osborne October 17, 2006 12:00
AUSTRALIA was as well-prepared for an outbreak of bird flu as any country but more drugs and equipment would be needed if it happened, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said today. More than 1000 state and federal government officials today took part in a $4 million exercise at Brisbane international airport to test the country’s preparedness for an outbreak of avian influenza.
Chief medical officer Professor John Horvath said Exercise Cumpston `06 was essential to safeguard the nation in the case of a pandemic. “We know that there’s continuing evidence of poultry disease in our region and the WHO (World Health Organisation) put the risk level at an arbitrary 10 per cent,” Prof Horvath said.
“I don’t believe this has changed over a period of time, so our level of risk continues to be low, but real - therefore, exercises like this are essential so (that) we are appropriately trained and prepared.”
“If it happened tomorrow, obviously we would like to have more drugs, but we do have what, by international standards, is a very large stockpile and we are constantly adding to it,” Mr Abbott said.
<snip>
“If we did have a pandemic outbreak almost nothing would be enough, by the same token our preparations are very far advanced and, by international standards, they are very complete preparations,” he said.
AnnieB;
Sigh….Yes, well it’s good to know everything is OK. The Govmint has everything under control and if a pandemic does arrive, our preps are “very far advanced”.
I missed the piece on ABC 6:30 news yesterday on the Cumpston exercise. Could someone who saw it give us a brief review on what you saw, please?
RobT, I haven’t read much but, by the sound of it, the testing that has just been carried out in Oz dealt with isolation etc. I saw no mention of the ‘real’ issues - closing schools, maintaining power supplies, transportation etc etc - all the things that we know are the real-deal in this situation.
In fact, what reports like the one above does is make people even more complacent - if that was possible!
If it is any consolation, although I know there has been considerably more effort here (NZ) to cover off all aspects of such an event, the testing exercise is not scheduled until next year! An eathquake exercise is up first then a volcanic eruption exercise then the pandemic .. sigh as well!
You should be able to obtain a report of the exercise - public document?
Fiday’s Courier Mail in Brisbane had an article on page 3 following Exercise Cumpsston. TPTB suggest all households stock up on non-perishable foodstuffs eg cereals and dried fruit plus water and “Vitamin Tablets”. Many have commented on it locally but there is no panic. It was also stated that people would have to be prepared to stay at home for extended periods of time.
Hi JulieM and welcome - I think you are a new poster here?
I caught the article you mentioned in the News Summary today and thought it was quite good - at least it is telling people to something .. as you probably gather from this thread, RobT (and others) have despaired of anything along those lines being mentioned in Oz at all ;-)
Thanks AnnieB -yes a very new poster! Have been following you all for some months now and enjoy the local input. From first hand viewing our usually excellent Health System will not cope. “Chickens with their heads cut off??”
JulieM - I think we all know that the health system will be overwhelmed so only so much can be done there … Of equal if not greater concern is maintaining electricity supplies, procedures for burials when mortuaries etc will be also overwhelmed, ensuring there is transportation for moving food and supplies rapidly at the last minute - the just-in-time system and the stocks of most supermarkets will give less than 24 hours supplies for most - but then if you have been following this and many other threads you already know this ..
I have been fortunate to know that most of this is already covered off in NZ - most of these considerations are part of our general emergency planning and the documents and procedures are quite public. Over the psat 6 months there have been some concerted campaigns to get NZer’s to prep - there is no way of gauging how effective this has been - I guess only time will tell. At least here you can talk about it with people you meet and not get taken for a raving nutter ..
Hi, I am a new poster, have been following the wiki for a long time and have learnt so much. Am in NZ and don’t get the impression that the general public are very concerned or prepping for bird flu at all. (unless everyone is doing it secretly!) I am wondering about the availability of the pneumovax vaccine being available in NZ. Also, I cannot seem to find powdered egg anywhere. Would appreciate any info, thanks.
sorry bout funny grammar, a bit weird posting instead of just reading..
Hi meercat and welcome. Do not worry about grammar etc - getting the message across is the most important thing here.
As to powdered eggs and similar supplies, the best source I have found is the camping or sports supply shops. Some of the (very large) supermarkets carry a few items - look in the dried foods section. If you have access to some of the bulk catering-type wholesalers, they have some of the goods too.
As to pneumovax, I must admit I have not heard of it being regularly dispensed in NZ. You would need to talk to your doctor - let us know if you find anything out.
As to Kiwis prepping, there are the full range of plans going on - I have found people with plans to remove mum and kids to an isolated property to others who are yeah-yeah, plenty of time - just like prepping for a quake! As mentioned above, at least we are allowed to talk about it!
JulieM; Welcome & thanks for spotting the article. I hadn’t seen it.
Well what do you know? Within a few days in Oz we’ve had a media piece on a conference that is talking about realistically possible CFR of 35% & then this one about having some preps. Good stuff, maybe the tide is beginning to turn….
There is a story picked up in today’s news about Oz wildlife testing showing no signs of BF - testing being carried out in Northern Australia. Link http://tinyurl.com/ydkj83
Hi AnnieB;
Let’s all chant together so the media gets the message:
Bird flu is not the real problem. Bird flu is not the real problem. Bird flu is not the real…..
LOL RobT - you will have to turn it into a rugby chant to be effective …
Hey, what would be the Haka? C’mon, give us the Maori Haka !!!
I was thinking more along the lines of waltzing matilda …
Once the jolly bird flu, settled on the billabong
Liked it in the shade of the coolibah tree
And it bred and it bred and waited til it reached the boil
You’ll come an get real sick with me!
Your turn …
I can’t top that! Too late at night to try.
Whomping Pandemic, Whomping Pandemic,
oh, what a whomping pandemic it’ll be,
Better prep, better prep, Disinfect that billabong…
Along came a jumbuck and sat beside the birdie flu
Sure, you can hitch a ride around the place with me
And he laughed as he jumped and spread the bug about a bit
You’ll needs your preps if you want to out-live me …
You’re really getting into this, arn’t you? You beat me to it on the second verse…and your’s is better LOL.
It’s sort of like the Haku thread awhile back. There were some really good ones.
For those that are reading this slight, albeit mirthful diversion, in the thread and asking “How can people joke about such a serious matter?”, I can only say that it is probably part of the adjustment reaction. If you don’t know what that is, look it up, you’re probably in an adjustment reaction of your own.
Thanks AnnieB, it’s nice to know there are kindred spirits out there.
How do us ANZACs feel about this: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-10/25/content_5245020.htm
??
“!Crikey!”, is about all i can say at this point in time.
Crikey, Blue -you didn’t miss “the list” did you? ;-)
Animals shown to be infected with H5N1
(now, I gotta Google “jumbuck”…and, stay outta your thread!)
O.K.- nice list.
But, the above article wasn’t saying that these birds in North America had the Highly Pathogenic form of H5N1, but that they were susceptible to it.
It’s a warning sign that seems to be going unheeded is all I am saying.
Blue - just so long as the american laughing gull isn’t another name for the cookaburra …
Hi team
We are now into November - do we want to retain a thread specifically for OZ/NZ preps and discussions or will we just link into the Lookout Post for the Region???
If we get more than 2(?) votes yes for a continued thread, I will start a November one - or someone could do it to reinforce their positive vote ;-)