Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Swine Flu & TeleConferencing

Freeteleconferencing, one of the solutions to keeping the finacial recovery going and keep families connected...In flu crisis, US has planned for the worst, have you? Instead of going to meetings with people who may or may not be sick, use teleconferencing! Following is an article about the swine flu pandemic

(AP)WASHINGTON - If the Mexico swine flu becomes a global pandemic, the routines and comforts of daily life would vanish in the blink of an eye. Small towns and big cities alike would go into a protective crouch. The worst case scenario, according to U.S. government planners: Two million dead. Hospitals overwhelmed. Schools closed. Swaths of empty seats at baseball stadiums and houses of worship. An economic recovery snuffed out. We're nowhere close to that. But government leaders at all levels, and major employers, have spent nearly four years planning for the worst in a series of exercises. Their reports, as well as interviews with policymakers, paint a grim picture of what could happen if the swine flu gets severely out of control. A full-scale pandemic — like the 1918 Spanish flu — would sicken 90 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the population. It could claim the lives of about 2 percent of those infected, about 2 million people, according to government experts.To put that in perspective, the regular flu causes about 30,000 deaths each year. "This may or may not be the killer flu," said Kim Elliott, deputy director of the Trust for America's Health, and independent public health group. "But it certainly does seem to have that potential, because it's a novel virus." A pandemic moves with explosive speed and comes in successive waves. That's why planners start with the worst case. If a pandemic strikes, the government estimates that nearly 10 million patients would have to be admitted to the hospital, and nearly 1.5 million would need intensive care. About 750,000 would need the help of mechanical ventilators to keep breathing. No one would be immune from the consequences, even those who don't get sick, according to worst-case exercises run by local and national agencies. Schools would be closed to try to block the spread of illness, for example, but school buses might be used to take flu victims to alternative clinics rather than overcrowdedhospitals. A 2006 report on the Washington region found both Maryland and Virginia would run out of hospital beds within two weeks of a moderate outbreak. People who got sick would be isolated, and their relatives could be quarantined. But even if families weren't required to stay home, many would do so to take care of sick relatives, or because they were afraid of getting sick themselves. Hotels, restaurants and airlines would face loss of business as business travel and meetings would be replaced by teleconferences. Get you free teleconferencing account today,its easy and free, Sign Up Now!!