Well, I guess the question is that if this really hits next week or the week after, it's not likely that we're going to be ready with that nationally coordinated, communicated plan that's so necessary to protect people in the event of a pandemic.
Linda, in your presentation you mentioned some of the same problems. And in previous correspondence that you sent to committee members you talked again about guidelines being developed in terms of occupational health and safety--or in the case of the federal government, it uses the words “safety” and “hygiene”. You talked about your concerns about the different standards in this country, a hodgepodge, a patchwork of systems. And you talked about the need for the precautionary principle and for nurses to have access to the N95 respirator.
I raised those concerns with Dr. Butler-Jones, the head of the Public Health Agency. He basically said that we don't need the masks, that there's no evidence to suggest you're better served by them. And he did not suggest that there were any problems with the national guidelines.
Can you comment?