Yet another example of the porousness of certain borders

When discussing what it would take to make Americans stop being so damned apathetic about politics I often say that it would take a global pandemic. Now that I have seen the definition of a global pandemic, though, I think that wouldn't be enough. I think it would take a pandemic that wiped out at least a fifth of the population of the US.

World Health Organization pandemic alert phases

• Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans
• Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat
• Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission
• Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic
• Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
• Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way

Given the amount and ease of travel in the world today it is difficult to imagine any Phase 4 disease (such as the Swine flu as of today) not progressing to Phase 6 by this definition unless the initial outbreak occurred somewhere without an airport. Fun thought of the day.

(Note: the title of this post is from a story by David Foster Wallace. As Wittgensteinians, DFW and I believe that pretty much all 'borders' are completely porous.)