Word: sandman
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...People need to think about the possibility of these disruptions now, Sandman argues. What if you couldn?t get to a pharmacy for three months to fill a prescription for high blood pressure medication, placing you at greater risk of a heart attack or stroke? Have you thought about where and how you?d take care of someone in your family who got sick, to avoid infecting anyone else in the house? What if enough truck drivers who deliver chlorine to water treatment plants get sick that the water in your community is no longer treated? Is there a stock...
...Sandman argues that it?s hard to rouse folks from their usual day-to-day routine to prepare for a new threat without also triggering alarm. Besides, a little bit of panic helps folks prepare emotionally for what the future may hold. It?s a necessary kind of "adjustment reaction," he says, that allows folks to think about what they can and cannot do, so that when the crisis comes they don?t just dissolve into despair and inaction...
...something about this," Sandman says. "We can stockpile chlorine for water treatment plants. We can make sure we have enough energy so we don?t freeze to death. We can do something for people with chronic conditions." Imagining the possibilities helps you to prepare emotionally and to figure out what precautions are reasonable to take. "You?re not completely ready, but you?re readier. You?re as ready...
...Even if a severe pandemic occurs, Sandman points out, most people would probably survive. "Let?s say it kills 5% of infected people, which is twice as bad as 1918," he says. "That still means that 95% of people who get the flu have two weeks of hell and then they get better. And when they get better, long before the government makes a vaccine, they?ll be immune." We should then figure out how to gather these immunized folks, Sandman says, into volunteer groups to do the jobs?like food and water deliveries - that might be needed...
...Sandman has some advice for journalists covering the bird flu as well: stop focusing so much on birds and other animals that get infected. "The problem with people focusing on bird flu and not a pandemic among humans is that as long as there?s no bird flu in town, they think they?re safe. We really need people to understand that it?s not about the birds. You?re not at any greater risk after a bird is found to be infected and you?re not any safer before an infected bird is found." The key moment will come...