Swine-Avian Flu

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Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Has anyone heard anything about the government taking all trucks off the road, if the Swine-Avian Flu gets bad enough? Email me if you have any information about this. [email protected]

I have NOT heard that one. If the flu gets bad we are likely to run even more. Someone will have to move meds and vaccineds etc.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
Has anyone heard anything about the government taking all trucks off the road, if the Swine-Avian Flu gets bad enough? Email me if you have any information about this. [email protected]

If you really think about it....What would be accomplished by taking trucks off the road?

Sounds like truckstop talk....Swine-Avian Flu? You have more chances of getting food poisoning at said truckstops...:rolleyes:
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I have NOT heard that one. If the flu gets bad we are likely to run even more. Someone will have to move meds and vaccineds etc.

Exactly! Your state may be similar. Minnesota has a pandemic plan in place. Among other things, it provides for truckers like us to be among the first to receive whatever vaccine shots that are are being given at the time. The theory is that we need to be healthy to drive our truck and distribute medical supplies and equipment.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
If the government took all trucks off the road, millions would die from starvation alone.

Don't tell the liberals that! What a great way to reduce the carbon footprint. Think how clean the air will be if no one is around to pollute it.
 

Dreammaker

Seasoned Expediter
Has anyone heard anything about the government taking all trucks off the road, if the Swine-Avian Flu gets bad enough? Email me if you have any information about this. [email protected]

I recently read about a study the CDC did on the spread of communicable diseases. Seems as if one of the major vectors was (is) the transportation industry - particularly the trucking business. I guess if the swine flu becomes a pandemic - as in the 1918 H1N1 flue pandemic:

1918 flu pandemic
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Two American Red Cross nurses demonstrate treatment practices during the influenza pandemic of 1918.

The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus.[1] Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients. The flu pandemic has also been implicated in the sudden outbreak of Encephalitis lethargica in the 1920s.[2]

The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[3] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 50 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,[4][5] or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe.[6][7][8] An estimated 500 million people, one third of the world's population (approximately 1.6 billion at the time), became infected.[5]

Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.

then my guess is they will limit the trucking business's access to the interstate system. Neverthless, as Layout mentioned, the country will still need food, medicine, and other necessities of living.
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Trucks collide with birds and pigs thousands of times daily in this country. Trucks are the number 1 form of dissemination for swine and avian flu. I'm not sure about the Hong Kong flu though.
 
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greg334

Veteran Expediter
Phil,
Yea Michigan has a plan in place;

Close all the schools

Lay off more MSP troppers

Have the Governor go to Japan and back to the Middle East with a stop in France for the duration

Have our invisible lt-governor make an appearance for the first time in his career on TV explaining the new plan to bring jobs to our state - tax breaks for the music industry, focusing on Hip-hop and other forms of Urban music.

And blame Engler for the problem.

Minnesota seems to be light-years ahead of us.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Trucks collide with birds and pigs thousands of times daily in this country. Trucks are the number 1 form of dissemination for swine and avian flu. I'm not sure about the Hong Kong flu though.

I read the story. Truck hit pig...the swine flu!
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
I read the story. Truck hit pig...the swine flu!

Image that very same truck traveling through Chicago, Detroit and Toronto leaking infected swine juice on the roadway and other vehicles. Now imagine that trucker doing a physical inspection of the damage and then bellying up to the Flying J trough. Certainly an "end of the world as we know it" scenario.

"Odds are we won't live to see tomorrow!"
 

Dreammaker

Seasoned Expediter
They are getting a little distracted over this because of the last pandemic.

Here is a description of what happened in Georgia in 1918:

Georgia State Summit: History Supplement

Opening Remarks Prepared for Delivery
By the Honorable Mike Leavitt
Secretary of Health and Human Services
January 13, 2006

The Great Pandemic also touched Georgia.

It probably arrived during the first week of October 1918, and then spread like a wildfire throughout the state. In just three weeks, from October 19th to November 9th, there were more than 20,000 cases and more than 500 deaths.

Towns and communities were terribly affected.

Augusta was the hardest-hit city in the state. Trained nurses were far too few for the many needs, and they too were struck down by the pandemic. As a consequence, nursing students were put in charge of shifts at a local hospital. Schoolteachers were enlisted to act as nurses, cooks and hospital clerks, at an emergency hospital constructed on a local fairground.

In Athens, the University of Georgia announced that it was indefinitely suspending classes.

In the town of Quitman, stringent rules were established to combat influenza, which touched almost facet of life:

* Public gatherings, including indoor funerals, were prohibited
* Public spitting was outlawed
* The serving of any beverage was prohibited in public places, unless it was poured into sanitary cups or served in glasses that were thoroughly sterilized each time they were used
* The accumulation of dust in places of business was prohibited. Merchants were ordered to keep their floors damp enough to keep the dust down
* All cases of influenza were ordered quarantined. In places where the disease had struck, a placard stating "influenza" had to be displayed

A similar strategy was adopted here in Atlanta. The City Council declared a ban on public gatherings for two months. Schools, libraries, theaters and churches were all closed.

For better ventilation, streetcars were ordered to keep their windows open, except in the rain.

Yet despite all those desperate measures, the pandemic still extracted a terrible toll.

Final casualty figures in Georgia will never be known. After making their initial reports, state officials were simply too overwhelmed to tell the U.S. Public Health Service anything more.

You can check out your state's history with the 1918 flu pandemic here:The Great Pandemic of 1918: State by State. Fascinating reading how fast the flu came and swamped the system. :eek:

From the CDC:

CDC H1N1 Flu and PandemicFlu.gov.


From edocket.access.gpo.gov

FR Doc E9-12332

Section 361 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 264)
authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make and
enforce regulations necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission
or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the
United States. The regulations that implement this law, 42 CFR Parts 70
and 71, authorize quarantine officers and other personnel to inspect
and undertake necessary control measures with respect to conveyances
(e.g., airplanes, cruise ships, trucks, etc.), persons, and shipments
of animals and etiologic agents in order to protect the public health.
The regulations also require conveyances to immediately report an ``ill
person''
 
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