News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A review of several after-action pandemic assessments released today shows that earlier investments in emergency preparedness were helpful, but serious gaps such as low flu vaccination rates in minority groups and continued erosion of public health infrastructure could undermine response to the next national health emergency.

(CIDRAP News) – A new study suggests that about half of essential workers, such as police and emergency medical personnel, might be unwilling to work during a serious pandemic. Meanwhile, another study indicates that it's common for employees in private industry to work while sick with flu-like symptoms.

Both studies were published on Sep 25 in an early online edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The nature of our response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic has moved from urgent to watch-and-see. This is the ideal time to take stock of what happened during the last 14 months and to make decisions about how we prepare for and deal with what comes next. We know that pandemics are a fact of life; another will emerge at some point unknown.

(CIDRAP News) – More than half of workers without paid sick days went to work when they had an infectious illness such as the flu, compared with 37% of those with paid leave, according to a report today from a nonprofit group that also found strong support for legislating paid sick days.

(CIDRAP News) – In its efforts to establish apreparedness certification process for the private sector, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today said it has adopted final standards, which it claims represents a major milestone toward the program's implementation.

I'd like to address a misconception that seems to be gathering traction. I'm sure it's one you, too, have encountered. People, including ones who sign your paycheck, are asking whether H1N1 was just another Y2K. You need an answer based on fact, not conjecture.

Daily headlines and newscasts this past month remind us that Mother Earth can be a risky place to live. I'm referring, of course, to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Icelandic volcano, and a botched vehicle bombing, and while these phenomena are not connected by any obvious plot line, they are vivid teachable moments for our governments and organizations.