Word: alertly
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...particles are visible only in the haze and smog we see but hard to keep out of our bodies because of their minuteness. The study describes, in part, how cities and counties fare when measured against EPA ozone pollution standards imposed in March 2008 (spoiler alert: not well), details the ways in which cities have improved or worsened, and provides recommendations for the future. (Read a Q&A with EPA head Lisa Jackson...
...World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday raised the pandemic swine flu alert level from phase 3 to 4, two levels below the declaration of a full pandemic. The elevated alert means there has been sustained human-to-human transmission of the new A/H1N1 swine flu virus and that scientists now believe government efforts should focus on slowing the spread of the virus rather than containing it at its source...
...decision to raise the pandemic alert level to phase 4 cannot be taken lightly. Although the move will not have much effect on the U.S. response, it will obligate countries that have not yet been infected to step up precautions. For poor nations, that undertaking could be expensive, and may divert resources from other health threats. "The [WHO] was mindful of the fact that a phase change would have social and political implications for everyone," said Fukuda. "But we focused on what we knew about the epidemiology...
What is puzzling, however, is the WHO's decision to escalate the alert now, when the world has most likely missed its chance to contain the virus. When the WHO's pandemic alert system was first conceived, phase 4 was intended to indicate the moment when a new flu virus had been identified and could spread effectively from person to person (as Asia's H5N1's bird flu virus, which reached phase 3, has never been able to do), but was still limited enough that health officials could launch a global effort to contain it and snuff it out with...
...clearly too late for that now - the swine flu virus has jumped across borders, and both the WHO and CDC have acknowledged that containment is no longer an option. So, while raising the alert level, the WHO also recommended that countries do not close borders or impose travel bans. "Restricting travel would have very little effect on stopping the movement of this virus," said Fukuda. At this point, trying to close borders would be like closing the barn door after the horse has bolted - better to focus on community-level protections like better disease surveillance and hygiene. (Read "Battling Swine...