#14,951
A couple of hours ago the CDC held a teleconference on COVID-19, where Dr. Nancy Messonnier - Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases warned that it is becoming less likely that we can avoid community spread of the virus, and urged everyone to begin to prepare for what could be potentially severe disruptions.
The audio file can be listened to at:
CDC Media Telebriefing: Update on COVID-19
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will provide an update to media on the COVID-19 response.
Tuesday, February 25, 2020, 11:30 a.m. ETTranscripts | Audio [MP3 – 6 MB][MP3 – 6 MB]
Dr. Meissonier once again referred to the MMWR Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza — United States, 2017, in describing what mitigation might look like in the United States if community spread begins.
This MMWR release is an abbreviated version of a much larger (160 page) pandemic planning document which I blogged about in April of 2017 (see CDC/HHS Community Pandemic Mitigation Plan - 2017).
In two other contemporaneous blogs (see PSAF Is The New Pandemic Severity Index and Community Pandemic Mitigation's Primary Goal : Flattening The Curve) we delved deeper into some of the details.The goal of community mitigation is to `flatten the curve' by slowing the spread of the virus, in hopes that not everyone falls ill at the same time, which could crash the healthcare system.
Schools may close, even some businesses, during an epidemic wave. You may be asked to stay home, and avoid crowds. If you are mildly ill, you will probably have to be cared for at home, by your family, not in a hospital (see Time To Line Up A `Flu Buddy').
If you are not sure how to prepare for a pandemic, you might want to start off with my Jan 25th essay Not Too Soon To Be Thinking About Preparedness.
