“Moderate” pandemic, now declared a Level 6 June 11, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Emergency Preparedness, Global, Public Health, pandemic.1 comment so far
The WHO today increased the pandemic level from 5 to 6. The announcement had been anticipated for weeks.
Here’s the current H1N1 status:
- 74: Countries reporting laboratory cases of H1N1
- 28,774 : Number of laboratory cases
- 144: Number of deaths
What does this mean? On Tuesday, WHO’s Assistant Director-General Dr Keiji Fukuda, at a press conference said that the virus has not mutated, and the southern hemisphere it is exhibiting similar behavior. Some other highlights of his press conference and the official WHO announcement.
- Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO’s director general,who called H1N1 “a subtle, sneaky virus” says this is a moderate pandemic.
- A pandemic is the emergence of a new virus, so there’s very little background immunity. Disease patterns are very different, says Fukuda
- It also means that some countries are moving from ‘isolated’ spread of H1N1 to ’sustained’ spread.
- It is not virulent, said Dr. Margaret Chan.
- The severity has not increased.
- “Our preparations have anticipated that we will at some point be at Level 6,” said Janet Napolitano in an April press conference –below.
FYI: In two weeks, Decision Theater will participate in ASU’s Swine Flu Workshop, that has gotten some international participation
Will the WHO rethink pandemic levels? May 22, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Global, Watchlist, pandemic.Tags: H1N1, swine flu, WHO
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Interesting dilemma about tracking a flu virus, as noted by Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, today about “a subtle, sneaky virus.”
Under some pressure from some of its 193 members, the WHO may be considering a ‘course correction’ in how it announces a pandemic threat level. Here’s what Dr. Chan had to say:
“On the other hand, this gives us a dilemma. Scientists, clinicians, and epidemiologists are capturing abundant signals. But we do not have the scientific knowledge to interpret these signals with certainty. We have clues, many clues, but very few firm conclusions.”
We include the WHO levels’ in our pandemic planning exercises, so this policy shift has interesting bearing on many local and global groups.
Alt Energy: a little good news for US February 2, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Global.Tags: AWEA
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Considering that the Obama administration has intended to double the alternative energy output of the US over three years, this piece of news today from Reuters is timely.
The United States overtook Germany as the biggest producer of wind power last year, it says. Better still it is poised to lead the world in solar.
The American Wind Energy Aossociation has an interesting video on the possibilities of alternative energy revitalizing communities.
Holograms that cut carbon footprint: tool or distraction? January 21, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Global, Visualization, sustainability.Tags: MAdsar, Prince Charles, UAE
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The age of holograms is here. We saw a hint of this during the coverage of the US elections. Now it’s being applied to mainstream events, like the ‘appearance’ of Prince Charles at the World Future Energy Summit at Madsar in Abu Dhabi this week.
Dubbed ‘his royal hologram’ the prince decided not to fly to the Middle East after criticism last year about his carbon footprint.
But here’s my question. Do technologies like this serve to highlight the value of carbon reduction, or do they serve as a distraction? Something that gets used not really because they eliminate travel, but because of the cool factor?
There is a precedent here. Not too long ago many wondered about how SecondLife would make it somewhat unnecessary to travel too. Why spend the time and energy on travel, we were told, when we could ‘fly’ there and mingle in a virtual world?
Systems thinking adopted by … the military! January 13, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Global, Watchlist, sustainability.add a comment
When we look at sustainability issues and who’s been taking it seriously–the triple bottom line etc– the organizations that come to mind are Dell, Coca-Cola, which uses 300 billion liters of water annually, and the chemical company, BASF.
So it was interesting to see what the U.S. Army has been talking about developing a ’sustainable ethic’ in these terms:
“We must strive to become systems thinkers if we are to benefit from the interrelationships of the triple bottom line of sustainability: mission, environment, and community.”
This kind of thinking, is an indication that we are moving away from the narrow definition of sustainability into one that takes into account several human and material dimensions. The U.S. Army’s sustainable strategy defines sustainability as a way to “simultaneously meets current as well as future mission requirements worldwide, safeguards human health, improves quality of life, and enhances the natural environment.”
GOSAT – the satellite for the Energy-Climate era January 9, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Global, Watchlist.Tags: Japan, JAXA, NASA, satellite
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You’ve probably heard about GEOSAT.
Now, some twenty years later, there’s GOSAT, the Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite that will be launched on January 21 this year from Japan, to monitor greenhouse gases around the world.
Data from GOSAT could be available as early as April this year. Interestingly, NASA will send up its own Orbiting Carbon Observatory this year.
