FEMA Activities Stepping Up?

Thanks for the post cicero.

Hopefully FEMA is taking the Pandemic potential seriously. It would be in all our best interest.

Just look at the new out-breaks since the last week of November: S.Korea, Hong Kong, UK, Burma, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Poland and Romania. Plus an unexplained H2H in China.

Yikes!

    I'm a newbie at this forum, but I am a local Emergency Management Director in Minnesota. I attended a Pandemic Influenza Planning and Preparation (PIPP) class in Alabama at the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The class was outstanding with a full day exercise at the end. The first day they outline the threat and the second day they talk about possible contingencies but more than that they ask questions that each person needs to take back to their community/agency/hospital. Like I said earlier, the last day is a simulated exercise from the EOC.

They had a medical doctor, a retired Army Phd, a couple retired paramedics and emergency management directors, and some others speak. I have been following the threat for a couple years and after the first day you are scared spitless at the info they give you. Nothing necessarily new, but they give a deeper understanding from the epidemiology point and what the gov't is doing (or not doing).

It was outstanding, but the full day exercise kind of bothered me because one of their assumptions in the exercise is that the virus CFR would be considered "severe", which in this exercise was like the 1957 pandemic. I talked to the M.D. and said, "They (the gov't) always assume the CFR is at worse going to be like 1918, but what if the CFR doesn't come down?" and he said, "Exactly." He doesn't believe there is any good epidemiological reason why it has to come down and he feels if it hits, which he seemed to be quite concerned that it will with the H5N1, that it will be worse than anybody is talking about. The other Dr (Phd) wasn't as concerned (still felt it would be more like the 1918), but he still has Tamiflu for himself and has stocked up. One thing I appreciated is that you had speakers on both sides of the spectrum (some thinking it could be TEOTWAWKI, some quasi-poo pooing it) so that you could see both sides.

In the class they also said that it's definitely YOYO, that when the WHO Phase goes to "4" the CDC will release their Strategic National Stockpile of Tamiflu to the states, and we need to get as many people as possible to the class to try to get as prepared as possible for when it hits. They did say on the record the usual (It's not a matter of if, but when - however we don't know if it will be H5N1, etc. etc.) but Homeland Security (Centers for Domestic Preparedness is under Homeland Security now)is taking it very seriously.

TadSmiley wrote:     . I talked to the M.D. and said, "They (the gov't) always assume the CFR is at worse going to be like 1918, but what if the CFR doesn't come down?" and he said, "Exactly." He doesn't believe there is any good epidemiological reason why it has to come down and he feels if it hits, which he seemed to be quite concerned that it will with the H5N1, that it will be worse than anybody is talking about. The other Dr (Phd) wasn't as concerned (still felt it would be more like the 1918), but he still has Tamiflu for himself and has stocked up.

CDC has run at least 3 drills, one of which was posted on several months ago. CFR is a topic of considerable debate. As Albert said, it is good to see new people with new experiences and insights on the site. One nurse, working with the governor's office in Wisconsin had mentioned the fact that prep plans may use figures as low as .5% CFR while the actual CFR in WHO cases is more like 56%.

Quite a leap there. It is good to see people meeting, discussing, and becoming more ready. A most interesting post.

Medclinician

   Give me your e-mail address and if anything comes up, I'll let you know. If you work in public safety (law enforcement, EMS, preparedness management) you might be able to attend the PIPP class in Alabama and the best part is that it is free. Free plane ticket, free housing, free food, mileage, everything. They also have periodic classes with MN Risk Management, HSEM (Minnesota Homeland Security Emergency Management), and some other stuff in the state. One of the best things, though, is the networking.

TadSmiley wrote:      I'm a newbie at this forum, but I am a local Emergency Management Director in Minnesota. I attended a Pandemic Influenza Planning and Preparation (PIPP) class in Alabama at the Center for Domestic Preparedness. The class was outstanding with a full day exercise at the end. The first day they outline the threat and the second day they talk about possible contingencies but more than that they ask questions that each person needs to take back to their community/agency/hospital. Like I said earlier, the last day is a simulated exercise from the EOC. They had a medical doctor, a retired Army Phd, a couple retired paramedics and emergency management directors, and some others speak. I have been following the threat for a couple years and after the first day you are scared spitless at the info they give you. Nothing necessarily new, but they give a deeper understanding from the epidemiology point and what the gov't is doing (or not doing). It was outstanding, but the full day exercise kind of bothered me because one of their assumptions in the exercise is that the virus CFR would be considered "severe", which in this exercise was like the 1957 pandemic. I talked to the M.D. and said, "They (the gov't) always assume the CFR is at worse going to be like 1918, but what if the CFR doesn't come down?" and he said, "Exactly." He doesn't believe there is any good epidemiological reason why it has to come down and he feels if it hits, which he seemed to be quite concerned that it will with the H5N1, that it will be worse than anybody is talking about. The other Dr (Phd) wasn't as concerned (still felt it would be more like the 1918), but he still has Tamiflu for himself and has stocked up. One thing I appreciated is that you had speakers on both sides of the spectrum (some thinking it could be TEOTWAWKI, some quasi-poo pooing it) so that you could see both sides. In the class they also said that it's definitely YOYO, that when the WHO Phase goes to "4" the CDC will release their Strategic National Stockpile of Tamiflu to the states, and we need to get as many people as possible to the class to try to get as prepared as possible for when it hits. They did say on the record the usual (It's not a matter of if, but when - however we don't know if it will be H5N1, etc. etc.) but Homeland Security (Centers for Domestic Preparedness is under Homeland Security now)is taking it very seriously.

Thanks for the great input, Tad. It's eye-opening. I'm trying to brush aside a cynical thought: If an institution has you believe the risk is much less than it is, they have a FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE.
    

I have some more information to share from a source in FEMA


There is a very serious concern about what is happening with H5N1 right now. What I understand, WHO has run out of people to send. No one is sure what would happen in Africa with an Ebola (air borne), TB (air borne), H5N1 (air borne), all in the same host. ....

[snip]

The WHO doesn't know what to do. Steps are being sent out to up command center preps and installing HEPA filters in EOC's, local, county, state and regional. Also jails and critical structure facilities. ...Several FEMA centers are receiving semi loads of ventilators and other apparatus. Local EOC's ... have been told to prepare for "extended periods of stay and constant operation".

New electronic scanning of vehicles for state police are being installed with the 700Mhz system so State Police can run plates without making contact with theoccupants of the car. ....

..... Human to human, airborne, Ebola-H5N1-TB is spreading, mutating, and advancing. .... it was the worry to combine in Africa and mutate all in one, airborne.

.... we have a new sunspot rotating towards Earth. Hopefully it dies out but produced a powerful CME on the backside in the past couple days. It is unknown what will happen in the next day or two as it rotates towards Earth. It is possible that if it releases a CME or Gamma Ray storm, it will add to the mutation and spread of these viruses. ....  science sources of contacts,(say) this is becoming very serious. And rapidly. WHO has run out of available personnel to respond. ...

Talk is they have done everything they can to prepare people. If they are they are, if not, then they are never going to be. Talk of one more media blitz, but some don't agree. Just let it go and spend the money elsewhere.

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Entropy no disrespect intended but some of us on this site are not as educated as you and need some explanation from time to time. Are you saying that it is close and they will announce it soon? Can you please be a little more less encryptic?

RE: the cameras to spot license plates, etc. Well, "they" fooled me again...we have recently installed many of these cameras at major intersections and plan many more in Tucson...they are used to catch redlight runners...Phoenix has them also. I didn't think about alternate use, it will serve many purposes drug runners, illegals, etc. I really thought it was a lot of $$$ to catch a few redlight runners.   

muriel46 wrote: I have some more information to share from a source in FEMAThere is a very serious concern about what is happening with H5N1 right now. What I understand, WHO has run out of people to send. No one is sure what would happen in Africa with an Ebola (air borne), TB (air borne), H5N1 (air borne), all in the same host. ....[snip]The WHO doesn't know what to do. Steps are being sent out to up command center preps and installing HEPA filters in EOC's, local, county, state and regional. Also jails and critical structure facilities. ...Several FEMA centers are receiving semi loads of ventilators and other apparatus. Local EOC's ... have been told to prepare for "extended periods of stay and constant operation". New electronic scanning of vehicles for state police are being installed with the 700Mhz system so State Police can run plates without making contact with theoccupants of the car. ......... Human to human, airborne, Ebola-H5N1-TB is spreading, mutating, and advancing. .... it was the worry to combine in Africa and mutate all in one, airborne..... we have a new sunspot rotating towards Earth. Hopefully it dies out but produced a powerful CME on the backside in the past couple days. It is unknown what will happen in the next day or two as it rotates towards Earth. It is possible that if it releases a CME or Gamma Ray storm, it will add to the mutation and spread of these viruses. ....  science sources of contacts,(say) this is becoming very serious. And rapidly. WHO has run out of available personnel to respond. ...Talk is they have done everything they can to prepare people. If they are they are, if not, then they are never going to be. Talk of one more media blitz, but some don't agree. Just let it go and spend the money elsewhere.****************************************************** <div style=": ; width: 28px; height: 28px; : 1000; display: none;">

I dont believe this at all, someone is watching to much tv.Sci fi channel