Contagion Fact or Fiction?

Warner Brothers recently released the movie Contagion, a fictional drama that portrays CDC and other U.S. and international partners responding to an emerging infectious disease outbreak. The film is riveting and takes viewers through the emergence of a new virus to a full-blown pandemic.

While the plot makes for a good story with plenty of drama, suspense and action, how much of the movie is factual and how much is fiction?

To answer that question, the CDC has come up with a Q &A page on their website. Click here to read more about fact and fiction in the film as well as what the CDC does every day to combat emerging illnesses.

New FEMA Apps Available

FEMA has released new apps and a text messaging service to help you prepare for and stay informed during a disaster.

The FEMA app lets you:

• Check off the items you have in your family’s emergency kit,
• Enter your family emergency meeting locations,
• Review safety tips on what to do before, during and after a disaster,
• View a map of shelters and disaster recovery centers across the U.S., and
• Read FEMA's latest blog posts.

The app is available in the Android market. An app for Blackberry version 6 devices and iPhones will be available in the coming weeks.

FEMA has also launched a text message alert system.

• Text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA) to sign up to receive monthly disaster safety tips
• Text SHELTER + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest shelter in your area (example: shelter 12345)
  
  (For availability of shelters and services, contact your local emergency management agency.)
  
• Text DRC + your ZIP code to 43362 (4FEMA) to find the nearest disaster recovery center in your area (for example, if you live in St. Helens with a Zip Code of 97051, you’d text DRC 97051).

Click here to see a video of the app in action and to read more about these new services.