Chimbu, I'm not fearful at all. Even that matter, - fear of a pandemic - has been discussed to death and I got over what's called the "adjustment reaction" to this years ago.
I am unsurprised by the reactions demonstrated on by people on this forum because they are typical and all of them have been discussed, even researched, in great depth.
I would like to think the aviation community is more intelligent then the general community.
The reason I am posting here is to encourage Ppruners to
read about Influenza Pandemics , preferably at Flu Wiki. That way you won't have an "adjustment reaction" if people start getting crook.
Don't let the apparent "mildness" of this virus fool you either. The damage and deaths caused by a pandemic are caused by the
volume of cases overwhelming the health system as well as secondary infections. Don't be confused by the apparent small number of cases either.
What is important is the attack rate (R0) which is a statistical measure of how many people an infected person infects. The attack rate for this thing is very high - it is highly infectious. The growth rate of cases in a pandemic is an
exponential function, so it starts small and slow, but the rate accelerates week by week.The first three or four weeks of a pandemic always look unremarkable it's the second month when cases skyrocket. Having said that, the first hospitals in the U.S. are putting up triage tents in parking lots as we speak and schools are starting to close.
If you want to understand the worldwide scale of this thing go here:
:
Veratect (Veratect) on Twitter
If you want to learn about pandemics, go here:
Flu Wiki - Main - Flu Wiki
To put it another way, I hope this is a Y2K issue. But all research indicates that we may delay the virus entering Australia, but we won't stop it.