We're not out of the woods yet. |
We're not seeing any cases outside of these groups, |
We're seeing very sporadic activity in seven states, and local activity in one state. |
We're sorry we have another frustrating year for some people. |
We're very early in the flu season this year. We're seeing very sporadic activity in seven states, and one state with local activity, but it's way at the very early stages. So it's difficult to predict how severe the season will be, when it will take off, and when it will peak, and what ultimately the spectrum of impact will be, |
We're watching a very specific virus move very quickly through a very large population of birds, and continuously evolve. That's worrisome. |
We're watching the situation with the avian flu very carefully, taking the steps that need to be taken now to help prepare and, most importantly, detect the transfer of that virus into people, ... But it is a very worrisome situation. |
We've got a lot of work to do. |
We've no idea if it will become transmissible from one person to another efficiently, but we've got to take the steps now to get prepared for that. |
We've probably never been closer to a pandemic than the year 1917. |
Well, we're just at the beginning of the flu season, so we can't predict whether this is going to be a serious year or not, ... We have 20 million more doses of flu vaccine to get out there, and our goal is to get those doses to the people who need it the most before the season really speeds up. |
What we don't have, and what we hope we never have, is sustained human to human transmission like we do with seasonal influenza. |
What we don't want is for people to flood in in a disorganized way, |
What we need to do is get them where we need them the most, that's our challenge right now, ... But we're very optimistic that the seniors and very young children and those who need the doses will be able to get them. |
what we're seeing is well within the normal range for this time of year. |