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To: wretchard
In particular, your last paragraph, which I have just finished re-reading.

"Technologies being developed against bioterrorism will find a new market. In particular, sensors which can detect viral loads in public places, to find the "edge of the pathogen cloud" are going to be in demand. In the short term, people are being asked to work from home. Network engineers and software developers will find a huge new market. Hong Kong has been forced to increase it's ICU units tenfold, and there are worries it is not enough. The medical profession will need more personnel."

Good luck getting more personnel...we're underpaid and don't get any respect as it is, though that's improving a little...but unless somebody is planning to try to force nurses to work against their will (particularly those with little children at home) there will just not be the number of health care workers needed, during a potential US outbreak.
7 posted on 04/21/2003 1:50:07 AM PDT by Judith Anne
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To: Judith Anne
Well, if the demand increases for medical personnel, wages are sure to rise. People will sell their houses if that's what it takes to get treatment. However, it won't be so easy to produce trained medical personnel (or software developers) in the short haul. Our medical facilities are sized to meet the forecasted demand. If the load doubled or tripled by a crisis like SARS, the system will begin to collapse. This has all been gamed in bioattack scenarios, and laughed at by the sceptics. Fewer people are laughing now.
9 posted on 04/21/2003 2:14:42 AM PDT by wretchard
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