code: def do_start_alerts(self, _):
          
          if self._alerter_thread.is_alive():
              print("The alert thread is already started")
          else:
              self._stop_thread = False
              self._alerter_thread = threading.Thread(name='alerter', target=self._alerter_thread_func)
              self._alerter_thread.start()
docs: Starts the alerter thread