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PANDEMIC ALERT LEVEL
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"More Money Needed to Prepare 4 Pandemic

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    Posted: March 21 2006 at 2:51pm
Easley: More Money Needed To Prepare For Pandemic Flu

UPDATED: 5:41 pm EST March 21, 2006

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The federal government needs to give states more than the $350 million proposed by President Bush to prepare for a pandemic flu, Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday.

"From a state perspective, I can tell you that that will not cut it," Easley said. "It is going to take a bigger federal commitment."

Easley made his comments during the state's first flu pandemic summit, where Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings also spoke to public health officials, law enforcement, business and community leaders.



Leavitt's visit to North Carolina is part of a nationwide tour to talk about a possible flu pandemic. The visits are meant to emphasize the need for state and local communities to begin preparing for a possibly serious threat.
It was held the same day that the World Health Organization announced that the human death toll from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has reached 103 after five people in Azerbaijan died from the disease.
No birds with the H5N1 strain have been detected in the United States, but Bush administration officials have said it's increasingly likely the virus will be found in the United States this year.

Experts fear a pandemic could start if the virus mutates into a form that is passed easily between people. And that pandemic would reach North Carolina, Leavitt said.

Guides prepared by the federal government recommend that people store a supply of water and food; businesses establish plans for flexible work sites; and child care facilities encourage parents to have alternate daycare plans in case they have to close.

During his speech, Leavitt announced that North Carolina will get $2.5 million from the federal government to help with preparedness and said more money will be coming.

But he also warned that any community that relies only on the federal government to pay for its preparations will fall short.
"We simply have no way to respond to 5,000 communities at the same moment," Leavitt said.

Easley later said he expected the state to get about $5 million of the $350 million being appropriated to states and while he criticized the federal government for not providing more money, he said North Carolina would be prepared.

"You can rest assured that North Carolina will be as prepared and as ready as is humanly possible in the event of a pandemic," Easley said.

    
http://www.nbc17.com/health/8168948/detail.html


    
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