Ottawa Sun
Published: Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Good judgment must continue

Has the 24/7 news media blown H1N1 virus -- formerly known as swine flu -- out of proportion? Absolutely. Have public health officials done the same? Categorically they have not.

With the first confirmed case of H1N1 now in Ottawa, local public health officials, led by medical officer of health Dr. Isra Levy, have done a responsible job in communicating with health-care partners and the broader community. In fact, Ottawa Public Health and other city officials hosted a community forum yesterday morning at the RA Centre to unveil the latest version of the local inter-agency pandemic plan and update the latest H1N1 developments. This event was in the planning stages for months but the timing was fortuitous.

City communications folks should have captured Levy's remarks and loaded them up to the city website as a podcast. Levy's remarks struck the right balance of confidence in the local plan and efforts to date with justifiable professional caution and concern to mitigate any complacency.

And in response to some of the reactionary commentary emanating from talk radio and the people's network (a.k.a. the CBC), we need to understand the sensitivity and lessons learned from the SARS outbreak which is governing current responses.

No one wants to diminish the potential threat of H1N1. It truly is better to be safe than sorry and in public health circles, better to have a robust plan that can be scaled back as opposed to a flimsy plan that leaves us scrambling. Think about the recent transit strike and our city's haphazard response to traffic woes and getting the system back up and running, for example.

In addition, tracking H1N1 or seasonal influenza is tough at the best of times. The flu is highly contagious and unpredictable. This H1N1 strain is new, so there is no community resistance as of yet and it can mutate quickly. And unlike previous pandemic episodes, think 1918 and the Spanish flu, the world is more interconnected today than any time before in human history.

In the space of 12 to 24 hours a virus can, courtesy of jet travel, move from one spot to almost any other point on the planet. Bottom line: Global travel equals global transmission.

Now for some good news: Pandemic does not equal Armageddon. Moreover, the declaration of pandemic should not conjure images of disease severity or mass funerals in the streets. In fact, pandemic simply refers to a geographic spread and/or unexpected number of cases.

The other reason for vigilance is that pandemic planning is unlike traditional emergency planning. Containing a train derailment, massive motor vehicle incident or a violent incident at a local institution comes with its own level of stress, complexity and risk to human lives and emergency workers.

But these episodes are all location based with the ability to detour traffic, erect safety perimeters and factor in issues of public interest and so on. Not so with an airborne virus that is spread in close contact and obeys no borders.

Finally, officials noted yesterday they are following their inter-agency plan and revising or adjusting as they go. And given the number of representatives from the hospital, child-care, community health, faith-based and business sectors present (more than 150 people) yesterday, it appears the community is deferential to the advice received and management direction so far.

So let's separate justifiable criticism of the media hype around H1N1 from any blowback onto the local officials on the frontline of our collective response. May their good judgment continue as the H1N1 story develops.