Hong Kong Pandemic Prep Redux
#206
Last night, to my embarrassment, one of my loyal readers pointed out something so obvious in the Hong Kong Prep retraction, that I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t catch it first. The identity of the flubie with the eagle eye is SophiaZoe, who is well known for her work on Avian Flu forums. Her blog can be found in my links section in the side bar.
To briefly recount how we got to this point, on November 3rd, the US consulate in Hong Kong released a recommendation for all ex-pat Americans residing there to stockpile 3 months worth of food and water in preparation for a possible Avian Flu pandemic. Suddenly, without explanation, that recommendation was `softened’ to only 2 weeks of preps. Last night, the Consulate’s web page with this new advice was removed. You can read about the progression of this story here and here.
SophiaZoe wrote, quoting from the first release:
I call attention to what, at least, I, failed to *see* until earlier this evening:
"The U.S. Department of State recently sent a cable to all diplomatic and consular posts entitled "Pandemic Influenza: Preparing for Possible Shelter-In-Place". The cable's main intent was to provide guidance to all staff regarding "shelter-in-place".
And just so that I am certain to make *my* point...NOTE THE "STAFF"
OK....So....Our Department of State, and by extension, the Executive Branch of the US Government, feels the threat is significant enough to warn their personnel to stock TWELVE WEEKS of supplies, but the general public gets the disingenuous TWO WEEKS advisory.
Very nice catch, SZ. Thank you.
The original dispatch did say `staff’. For reasons not yet clear, this recommendation was passed on to American citizens via the embassy website. It was then revised. And then all evidence of it was expunged from the website. This comedy of errors has had the flu blogosphere abuzz for the past 24 hours, and rightfully so.
While we may never know, this suggests that the 12-week recommendation was intended to remain in-house, and that it was accidentally released to the public. The intent was only to advise embassy employees to stockpile for 3 months.
The official recommendation of the Federal government is still a woefully inadequate 2-weeks of supplies.
But we should watch what they do.
Not what they say.
