So yesterday when I got to work, there was an email waiting for me about our company's course of action on swine flu. This morning we had a meeting about it.
Yeah, it has to do with what we do. We are a distributor of scientific supplies so suddenly a lot of hospitals and emergency preparedness people are calling in to order supplies in case it gets worse.
We had a meeting about it because some of our suppliers are now rationing out their supplies. Unlike, say, SARS this is affecting the US as well (or rather, the US is admitting that it's affecting them this time, there where quite a few mysterious respiratory deaths in the US during the SARS crisis), and most of the manufacturers of such supplies are American, they're currently stock piling for the US first, which might leave Canada in a bit of a bind. :S This means that we have to check each order going through for these products and make sure that they are going to authorities rather than people panicking.
... I totally spent Sunday planning for the apocalypse, and that was before I even heard of the swine flu going around :P (It was totally just for fun though, I'm not actually that paranoid)
Well, when stuff like this happens, a lot of hospitals put procedures in place that require everyone (or at the very least anyone feeling sick) to wear masks, or to wash their hands, so the stock piling is kind of necessary, because the demand will be up.
And actually, I don't think it's a bad idea for our health care systems to worry about such things. Historically there have been pandemics that have wiped out entire percentages of the population. We've also become a global community and it's so easy for these diseases to jump countries and continents now. I think if it weren't for the clamping down of the health care systems and quarantining we would have felt something close to a pandemic in the recent past.
Swine flu is also scary because you can go from healthy to dead in 2 days. I'm not saying we should all start panicking or anything, but I think caution on the part of the government is appropriate.
And actually, I don't think it's a bad idea for our health care systems to worry about such things
Oh, no, that's not what I meant! I agree, health authorities should be prepared. I meant that it was sad that there's already the possibility of individual people stockpiling because they are panicking (I just always feels sad when we see people start hoarding when it should be directed to public institutions that are best equipped to deal with public health emergencies). So, I feel sad that you have to be checking your orders for this kind of individual hoarding.
I meant that it was sad that there's already the possibility of individual people stockpiling because they are panicking (I just always feels sad when we see people start hoarding when it should be directed to public institutions that are best equipped to deal with public health emergencies). If it makes you feel any better, we're a big enough company that we're not selling to the general public. So most of the people calling in and asking for more are public institutions (the ones that are more likely to be denied are the small municipalities that don't normally purchase these items, or only do so a few times a year). About the only exception to that is, for example, during the SARS outbreak Shoppers Drug Mart (or similar), who isn't normally a customer of ours, ordered an entire truck load of face masks for their stores. I doubt we'd be able to help them at the moment if they were to do that again.
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Edited to add: Then again, I have no idea what it is your company does, so it might be really necessary!
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We had a meeting about it because some of our suppliers are now rationing out their supplies. Unlike, say, SARS this is affecting the US as well (or rather, the US is admitting that it's affecting them this time, there where quite a few mysterious respiratory deaths in the US during the SARS crisis), and most of the manufacturers of such supplies are American, they're currently stock piling for the US first, which might leave Canada in a bit of a bind. :S This means that we have to check each order going through for these products and make sure that they are going to authorities rather than people panicking.
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(It was totally just for fun though, I'm not actually that paranoid)
Well, when stuff like this happens, a lot of hospitals put procedures in place that require everyone (or at the very least anyone feeling sick) to wear masks, or to wash their hands, so the stock piling is kind of necessary, because the demand will be up.
And actually, I don't think it's a bad idea for our health care systems to worry about such things. Historically there have been pandemics that have wiped out entire percentages of the population. We've also become a global community and it's so easy for these diseases to jump countries and continents now. I think if it weren't for the clamping down of the health care systems and quarantining we would have felt something close to a pandemic in the recent past.
Swine flu is also scary because you can go from healthy to dead in 2 days. I'm not saying we should all start panicking or anything, but I think caution on the part of the government is appropriate.
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Oh, no, that's not what I meant! I agree, health authorities should be prepared. I meant that it was sad that there's already the possibility of individual people stockpiling because they are panicking (I just always feels sad when we see people start hoarding when it should be directed to public institutions that are best equipped to deal with public health emergencies). So, I feel sad that you have to be checking your orders for this kind of individual hoarding.
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If it makes you feel any better, we're a big enough company that we're not selling to the general public. So most of the people calling in and asking for more are public institutions (the ones that are more likely to be denied are the small municipalities that don't normally purchase these items, or only do so a few times a year).
About the only exception to that is, for example, during the SARS outbreak Shoppers Drug Mart (or similar), who isn't normally a customer of ours, ordered an entire truck load of face masks for their stores. I doubt we'd be able to help them at the moment if they were to do that again.