More Web 2.0 Swine Flu stuff

In addition to the Twitter sites I mentioned in the last post, this new Google map of suspected and confirmed cases is interesting to follow. We should remember that user-generated content is often (usually?) unreliable, but the more widely it is disseminated the quicker inaccuracies are debunked and salient points reinforced. Firegeezer has written several times about having an Internet Intelligence Officer at the command post for very large, very public incidents. Twitter and RSS readers can keep you updated very quickly from a tremendous amount of sources and go a long way toward maintaining situational awareness using a resilient and durable platform.



View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Swine Flu in New York, Kansas

New York public health officials are confirming around 200 cases in Queens* centered around a school and CNN has reported cases in Kansas. Texas Department of State Health Services is closing certain schools around San Antonio and recommending people avoid public gatherings in those areas.

This is a great case for Twitter. Go sign up and follow @BreakingNews, @Veratect, and @CDCEmergency for some really bleeding-edge coverage.

I sent a memo up my chain of command this morning recommending a few actions.

1. Locate and inspect our previously issued N95 HEPA masks
2. Consider writing a standing order, to be issued later, ordering company officers and battalion chiefs to relieve from duty any members reporting sick (our guys hate using sick leave for actual sickness!)
3. Send someone to the store to stock up on Purell now (the City buys this, but they probably don't have a lot of reserves in the warehouse)
4. Issue a standing order directing members to wear their N95's when treating dyspnea patients and to wash hands after every EMS call, regardless of actual patient contact
5. Issue a standing order banning members from lingering in public places until further notice
6. Suspend all public ed and PR events until further notice

Don't hang out close to a patient if you don't have to, wash your hands frequently and thoroughly (or use alcohol-based sanitizer), and, if your patient is not on a NRB and has a respiratory problem then put a surgical or dust mask on his/her face.

This is the sort of thing that can push this teetering economy into a depression as business' continuity of operations begin to strain. That will definitely include fire departments, since this appears to be something that disproportionately affects healthy adults (vice kids and the elderly and infirm).

Oh, one other thing. When you sneeze, sneeze in the crook of your arm and not your hands (that actually is a CDC recommendation!). Sneezing on your hands just transfers that crap to doorknobs, keyboards, mice, and light switches

* (UPDATE at 15:20 on 4/26): That number has come down significantly, with under 20 being confirmed but others suspected.

Ad astra per porci?

Has the long-awaited influenza pandemic begun in the tinderbox of Mexico? Yesterday the Canadian equivalent of the CDC issued a BOLO to Canadian customs people for travellers returning from Mexico. This morning the World Health Organization announced that upwards of 900 people have become infected in Mexico City and surrounding areas and later in the morning Mexico City shut down its schools. Cases of swine flu in San Diego and San Antonio may be related, but no one is sure yet. Please note that "swine" flu, like "avian" flu and "Spanish" flu, can infect humans without any contact with pigs, birds, or Spaniards. They're just named after their natural reservoirs or wherever they were first noticed in people.

The unusual (read: scary) thing about this strain is that, like the 1918-19 near-apocalypse, it affects primarily people in the prime of life. If SARS and its attendant hysteria was any indication, this could turn into a nightmare for fire departments and EMS agencies around the country and especially in the border regions.

Things to think about:

1. Lots of dyspnea calls, many of which will require ventillatory support
2. Our own workforces may be hard hit and you may have to make do with holding people over on shift
   
3. The economy runs on Just In Time inventory systems; a pandemic that hits healthy adults the hardest could cripple the JIT system, possibly delaying or making unavailable things like food in the grocery store, HEPA masks at the pharmacy, Lysol and Clorox, and parts for your vehicles
4. In 1918-19 things collapsed, and that was with more local resilience (local food and dairy, local craftsmen, and inventory) and fewer people dependent on the fire department for their healthcare

If this thing takes off it could be a real adventure for the fire service.

Or it may fizzle out, but even if it does you should use it as a teaching moment about preparedness.


CDC's running swine flu updates here.