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Article: A pandemic could cripple Alaska economy: prepare in case of catastrophe.
- Article from:
- Alaska Business Monthly
- Article date:
- November 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Alaska Business Publishing Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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It is predicted that we are due any day for the next pandemic influenza. Over the past 1,000 years, a pandemic has occurred every 10 to 50 years. The most recent pandemics to hit American soil killed more than 600,000 Americans in 1918, 1957 and 1968. During 1918's "Great Pandemic," Alaskan Territorial Gov. Thomas Riggs Jr. imposed a maritime quarantine to protect citizens, but that did not stop the spread of the flu from the Lower 48 states. Some Alaska villages were wiped out entirely and others suffered losses of 85 percent of their populations. Those who were not killed by the virus froze to death and others starved.
Despite the fact that Alaska is ...