What happens when someone sneezes within 3 miles of the white house? Georgio and his mafia run off to a "secure location" where I'm sure there are plenty of supplies to survive for years. Who would get the first shot of vaccine once it's been tested? Come ON.
It's surprising to me that people who constantly criticize the MSM for not reporting anything that really matters would ignore the fact that the avian influenza stories have almost entirely dropped from the news . A little buzz about china's recent scare is all that is on. The time to worry about something is when the MSM STOPS reporting it.
Scientists all over the world are extremely nervous about this one. The death rates are much higher in human cases so far than in the spanish flu pandemic. The spanish flu has a death rate of 5%. It killed an estimated 100 million people worldwide. The US government is woefully unprepared for the next pandemic. A plan was drafted 9 months ago, and hasn't been revised since. Even though the warning signs have grown much much more serious, the plan is still a draft. State and local governments have gotten very little guidance on how even to begin preparing. The time to prepare was YESTERDAY. Call your mayors, senators, and congressmen, and demand that a plan be made for dealing with an outbreak. Send emails en masse.
The one thing that makes epidemics, pandemics, and plagues so bad is that people are complacent and ignorant. They (and some of you, it seems) think that oh, look, people are dying in new york by the hundreds... But never seem to think of what they would do if it came home, or that it even will come home. The mindset will change the first time you see someone keel over on the street, or you see your spouse, or best friend, or child gasping for air.
Defoe describes the experience very well, and in great detail. Granted, now we have the internet, tv, and radios, so we will know much more of what is happening than he did, but the experience will be much the same. When the first round of flu hits, and the MSM starts their 24-hour drum-banging, people will rush the stores, buying up all the water, food, masks, cooking supplies, and survival gear they can. My advice is that you set up a modest survival kit, with plenty of bottled water, maybe a water filter, some camp cooking equipment, and food enough for you and whoever you want with you for about a month. Get a hand or battery powered radio. These are basic survival items that everyone should have, especially if you live in a big city. Once the flu starts circulating in your area, don't go outside if you can avoid it. Wear a mask when you're out, and shower immediately when you return.
Read Defoe's account of the great plague of london.
http://www.mastertexts.com/index.php?PageName=TitleDetails&ID=524