# 3464
Although today’s Flu Summit in Washington D.C. was mainly for state and local planners, to get them to go home and hold their own local summit meetings, there were a lot of good messages dispensed . . .and not the least of which is:
Officials warn: Be prepared for more swine flu in fall
BY DELTHIA RICKS | delthia.ricks@newsday.com
- 2:03 PM EDT, July 9, 2009
A personal pandemic plan would include family preparations in case a child gets the flu, or if multiple family members get sick and working parents need to take time off. (AP Photo)
Every American should develop a "personal pandemic plan" to prepare for the expected resurgence this fall of swine flu, national public health leaders said Thursday morning at a summit on the H1N1 virus convened here by the White House.
Officials also said that clinical trials for a swine flu virus are expected to begin in August and that the vaccine should be available by October.School-age children would be first in line for the shots, followed in priority order by "non-elderly" adults and health care workers, said Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human secretary.
It’s been a long day of presentations, most of which were carried live online. Archived video of the plenary and breakout sessions should be posted over the next few days at www.flu.gov.
Again and again, the message today was we should all be preparing to deal with what could be a serious situation this fall. That the H1N1 virus may not be as `mild’ (a relative term) in the future as it has been to date.
Unlike people living in the Southern Hemisphere, we’ve got some `adjustment’ time in which to prepare.
For businesses, families, and individuals who have not already started, however, the amount of time is short.
For more information on preparedness, you can go to any of these reputable sites.
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
For Pandemic Preparedness Information: HHS Individual Planning Page
For more in-depth emergency preparedness information I can think of no better resource than GetPandemicReady.Org.
You can also help by volunteering with the American Red Cross, The Medical Reserve Corps, CERT, or your Neighborhood watch.
