Mahoning Valley Forum

Has anyone been reading the reports about swine flu hitting Mexico City?  It sounds serious.

CDC says too late to contain U.S. flu outbreak

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/24443479.htm

Questions and answers about swine flu

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jyidCLFCGi7s8QvjHJ25t5DeyvpAD97P41Q80

Is our city able to deal with a crisis of this nature?

I don't know if the country can deal with this let alone the city. It worries me greatly at this point. I really think they need shut down travel with Mexico until they can figure this out and contain it. I know someone who just left for mexico. That scares me even more since we have daily contact I can not avoid. 

To what extent are we prepared to enforce a quarantine?  I just read on the internet that New Zealand has quarantined a group of students who had been on a recent trip to Mexico.

According to a news report slugged 4/26/09 at 9:06a the White House will be meeting today at 12:30 pm for a special briefing on the Swine Flu outbreak.

The officials will give an update on the flu outbreak in the United States and the government's response.

Perhaps our valley should use some of the closed hospitals exclusively for swine flu patients. 

U.S. Declares Public Health Emergency Over Swine Flu

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/27flu.html?_r=1&hp

Cases of the swine flu have now been reported in five states.

I guess this is what we can expect from modern day travel.  Viruses skip across borders in a matter of hours.