Yesterday, the World Health Organization raised the phase of pandemic alert to a level 5. According to their website:
Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.
George Mason University’s Tyler Cowen has an interesting four-page paper on what to do and what not do to prepare for a pandemic. At the heart of the to-do list is the idea to have a decentralized approach to preparedness. And obviously, one of the items in the not-to-do list is to avoid reproducing the debacle of the response to the Swine Flu pandemic of the 1970s.
You can read more here.