Two great Computerworld articles on pandemic preparedness

[scottmcpherson]

Very good article from Computerworld's Robert Mitchell on pandemic preparedness for IT professionals and why it is important to take the threat seriously.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=277375

Preface to the interview with Dr. Osterholm and a somewhat contrarian view (!) from CDC economist Martin Meltzer.

http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/4305

Interview with Osterholm and CDC economist Meltzer.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9007058

[gsgs]

Re: Two great Computerworld articles on pandemic preparedness

"the probability of an outbreak this year can?t be predicted with certainty. "

ahh...

I didn't know, that a probability can be "predicted" or even
can be "predicted with certainty".
Do they mean e.g. the probability to win the lottery ?
Everyone will tell the same number, so there is agreement here.

But that doesn't mean that individual probability estimates
of harder predictable events like a pandemic don't exist.
They would differ, sure. But that's no excuse to refuse
telling it.
Meltzer and Osterholm and others could make their language
and communication efforts much more effective by giving
their numbers.
They don't want this. They want to remain unclear. Why ?

[hawkeye]

Re: Two great Computerworld articles on pandemic preparedness

Thanks for the links. I left a comment in the Preface Interview with our 30 Day Stockpile info.