I know that to some this post will be alarmist, even silly, and -- thankfully at this juncture -- unrelated to Boston, but the flu outbreak in Mexico that shows signs of spreading into the Western and Southwestern states has grabbed my attention.
If you haven't caught the news: boston.com...mexico_struggles_to_contain_swine_flu_outbreak/
Among my fears is this: Despite all the advance notice we've had of what a flu epidemic could do to large populations, does Boston have an effective public health response or protocol in place?
I'm sure the CDC folks right now are alarmed, wondering if this is the Big One that many have predicted for some time now.
An outbreak can occur anywhere. It did in Boston, which was a hot spot for the 1918 flu pandemic: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/sfeature/boston.html. Granted, back then the city was more of a port of call than it is today, but with modern air travel no location is immune.
I hope this post is purely hypothetical. However, I'm not sanguine about the city's ability to engage in crisis prevention and a response, ranging from the insipidness of the "see something, say something" campaign to inadequate training & planning that contributed to the Victoria Snelgrove death at the hands of the Boston P.D. after the Red Sox won the Series. Perhaps I'm connecting dots that shouldn't be connected, but I sometimes fear that this city just doesn't take effective crisis planning as seriously as it should.
I'd be curious if any readers are aware of what the public health response would be in a situation like this one.
