Preparing for H1N1 Pandemic

The SARS experience is repeating itself, this time in the form of the new H1N1 flu virus. Organizations like my workplace will do the “right thing” to implement all sorts of measures now, like what had been adopted for SARS, even though the risk at this point to people in Singapore is really quite minimal. But I suppose they cannot ignore the fact that the risk exists.

Over the weekend, it seems several “emergency meetings” were convened, where possibly inconsistent messages were being disseminated. As everything had happened very fast, everyone still seems quite lost about what is going on. For example, the mandatory taking and reporting of one’s temperature took effect today. But it seems like the majority of people don’t know about it. How interesting.

I believe SARS has prepared us all very well. Although some fine-tuning still needs to be done, but at least there is a framework largely in place.

How does H1N1 compare with SARS? So far it seems the mobidity rate is lower than SARS. That’s good. But perhaps it is still in the early stages. I think a lot of hype has come about from the comparison drawn with the Spanish Flu of 1918 which reportedly killed 70 to 100 million people.