Via Bloomberg.com: Swine Flu Is No Typical Pandemic as WHO Tries to Reassure World. Excerpt:
The Geneva-based agency, sometime in the next 10 days, will declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the WHO’s deliberations are private.
WHO is using the time before the announcement to help member states prepare.
“We held a series of consultations with public health officials and academics around the world to understand their concerns and get their advice about moving to level 6,” said Dick Thompson, a WHO spokesman in Geneva.
“We are not at phase 6. We’re just exploring the issues associated with announcing a pandemic.”
Following yesterday’s discussion, Chan is considering changes that would allow the agency to describe the situation as pandemic phase 6a, leaving the WHO two more levels — b for moderate and c for severe — if a more deadly bug emerges, according to the people familiar with the organization.
“WHO over the past few years has taught the public that a pandemic is a very dangerous thing,” said Peter Sandman, a New Jersey risk-communication consultant whose client list includes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the WHO.
“If you declare a disaster every time something small happens, then eventually declaring a disaster isn’t a wake-up call.”
