Fighting the Good Fight


# 255


While it may seem slow going to those of us who have been trying to raise awareness of the avian flu threat for months or even years, we are making progress. Witness the flurry of news reports over the past week regarding pandemic preparedness across the United States, articles from virtually every state.


Are we there yet? Are we approaching the level of preparedness we need to have?


No, not even close. But we are closer than we were a year ago.


And much of the credit for the progress we have made goes to those individuals who have made it their mission to push pandemic flu awareness. Ordinary citizens, for the most part, who have written letters to newspapers and politicians, posted on flu forums, brought the subject up in their workplaces, attended local meetings, and harped on the subject till they are blue in the face to friends and family alike.


Your efforts are having an effect.


While we keep hoping for some mass epiphany, some instant conversion of public consciousness, the truth is, this has been, and is likely to continue to be, a battle of attrition. We simply have to wear down the resistance, one person at a time.


The arguments, and scientific evidence, suggesting that the H5N1 bird flu virus poses a significant pandemic threat are compelling, but as yet, does not represent an absolute certainty. And that lack of certainty makes it difficult to convince people to prepare.


Opinion pieces ridiculing pandemic concerns, such as the one written by Michael Fumento this past week called The Chicken Littles Were Wrong, certainly don’t help matters. He is, of course, entitled to his opinion. And admittedly, when I want a medical opinion, or an analysis of the veracity of scientific research into virology and emerging infectious diseases, I know I always rely on the advice of a Washington Lawyer.


Sadly, Mr. Fumento’s opinion will likely be taken to heart by many who would rather think of more pleasant things than a pandemic. People, quite naturally, are looking for reasons not to prepare, not to spend scarce resources on a potential crisis, and many will find favor and comfort with his position.


Convincing someone to do nothing is, after all, easier than convincing them to do something.


So the road to pandemic awareness has been a bumpy one, with occasional setbacks.


But as Harry Truman once remarked concerning the Presidency. “If it were an easy job, they’d get a mule to do it.”


Over the past year we’ve seen an amazing increase in the resources available on the Internet for flu watchers. New flu forums have sprung up, including Planforpandemic, Flutrackers, and PFI. Blogs such as this one, and SophiaZoe’s and Monotreme’s blog have joined along side longstanding flu bloggers like the Reveres at Effect Measure and Crawford Kilian of Crofsblog, just to name a few.


Our numbers are growing, in the blogosphere, on flu forums, and yes, in businesses and homes around the world. More people each day are getting the message, and more are taking preparing seriously.


We are making inroads.


I get emails nearly every day from readers from around the world; Doctors, nurses, heads of corporations, and people from all walks of life. If you fear that you are alone, that you are the only one taking this seriously; you are not.


We are all preparing for an event we all hope will never happen. There are days when each of us finds that the stress of dealing with panflu issues gets to us. Again, you are not alone.


But if it helps, I can tell you that over the past year I’ve managed to convince a number of friends and family members, skeptics all in the beginning, to take this seriously and to prepare. And no, it hasn’t been easy. But it proves the value of persistence.


Small victories, admittedly, but victories nonetheless.


On those days when I am tired, or weary of reading about pandemic flu, or simply frustrated by the lack of progress or the ambivalence that pervades much of the population, I remind myself of one truth.


The virus never sleeps.


And in our efforts to prepare for it, we can scarcely afford to do so ourselves.