The party's over. Time to call it a day.

Welcome to the party, Dr. Gerberding (Director, CDC). We were expecting you earlier.

Top health officials warned that the United States was ill-prepared to counter a pandemic which could come from a mutation of the bird flu H5N1 that has badly hit Asia. (Agence France Presse via Yahoo News)

And whose fault is that? Isn't preparing for the foreseeable YOUR job?

"Although we cannot be certain exactly when the next influenza pandemic will occur, we can be virtually certain that one will occur and that the resulting morbidity, mortality, and economic disruption will present extraordinary challenges to public health authorities around the world," [Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned the House of Representatives].

Well, Dr. Gerberding, maybe it won't be that bad, say, compared to the obesity epidemic you have spent so much time talking about:

Julie Gerberding, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that even a "medium level pandemic" in the United States could result in 89,000-207,000 deaths and up to 734,000 people people being hospitalised.

[snip]

According to Gerberding, between 15 percent and 35 percent of the US population would be affected by a flu pandemic and the cost to the US economy would be between 71 billion and 166 billion dollars.

Oh. Never mind.