A Teachable Moment
President Obama declares an H1N1 national health emergency. Washington Post:
President Obama has declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, clearing the way for his health chief to give hospitals wider leeway in how they handle a possible surge of new patients, administration officials said Saturday.
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“The H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected,” White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Saturday. “By the time regions or health-care systems recognize they are becoming overburdened, they need to implement disaster plans quickly.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday that the flu was spreading widely in at least 46 states and had already caused the hospitalization of at least 20,000 Americans. More than 1,000 deaths have been attributed to the virus and more than 2,400 additional deaths were probably associated with it, officials said.
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David P. Fidler, a professor of law at the University of Indiana, said that “the declaration has political implications in that it will intensify scrutiny of the federal government’s preparedness and response for this kind of event.”
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Although officials had hoped at least 40 million doses of vaccine would be available by this time, production problems have delayed the federal government’s ambitious inoculation campaign. Only about 16 million doses have become available.
I got the news yesterday on the car radio while driving back from the supermarket with my son. He and his sisters got their swine flu shots at the pediatrician’s office the other day. But he’s been studying the Black Death in history class. (So proud. In parent-teacher conference last week, the teacher related that she asked the class, “Who knows what the Black Death is?” and his hand shot up. “It’s a disease that killed half of Europe in the Middle Ages!” Their minds are like little sponges.) Anyway, just yesterday morning, he and I had been discussing again how the Black Death caused massive social turmoil, how all of us alive today are plague survivors. I assured him swine flu isn’t anything like the Black Death.
So, about this swine flu state of emergency, I told him:
There are two pieces to this. One is that it makes sense, if you have a serious situation, to let the hospitals and various public health authorites bypass certain rule and regulations so they can treat more people, and limit the spread.
Then, there’s something called CYA. It means, “cover your behind.” It’s political. When you have a disaster looming, you need to look like you’re doing something. With this emergency declaration in late October, and vaccinations way behind where they wanted it to be, some people might say the horse has already bolted.
You know that saying? Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted? It means making a big show of closing the barn door … after the horse has bolted.
I told him swine flu is like Hurricane Katrina. It’s coming, and it’s going to do what it’s going to do. Big force of nature. Might be bad, might not be so bad. Dunno yet. But when it’s over, everyone is going to want to know whether the president did everything he could to limit the damage. Deservedly or not, Bush got whacked over that. People are already starting to talk about swine flu as Obama’s Katrina.
And, given the drastic shortfall and delay in vaccine preparation and distribution, it isn’t looking good for him if this thing gets bad. Especially since, as the White House flack notes above, “The H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected.”
Although … I didn’t get into this with the kid … key words such as “federal government’s ambitious inoculation campaign” in that last Washington Post graph above are little clues that suggest there’s media scrutiny about political responsibility, and then there’s media scrutiny about political responsibility. And not all media scrutiny about political responsibility is equal.
More news and links.
NYT: Swine flu widespread in 46 states as vaccinations lag.
I know I may catch hell for saying this, but I just cannot get all worked up about H1N1. When I look at the numbers, especially in light of the fact that there are 300 million of us, I just don’t see what all the panic is about.
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Quite frankly, I have found the handling of H1N1 to be overkill from day one. It isn’t like people are dropping like flies all over the place.
Outside The Beltway wishes they could find something less hysteria-inducing than “emergency” to describe the action.
Lawyers, Guns & Money: “Am I getting too good at this or is the stupid just getting easier?”
Do you know what this means? The government now has the power to segregate certain people (wink conservatives wink) on the basis of how they pay. Where do you think all those Cadillac owners are going to end up? In the hospitals, with doctors, in armories, because Obama knows he’ll need guns to keep conservatives away from theirs. The National Guard will be mobilized, then the “debate” over health-care reform will end as will America, as a permanent state of martial law will be declared on account of the continuing swine flu crisis.
This has been another edition of “Tomorrow’s Conservative Talking Points Today.” Gah.
Interesting. I wasn’t aware LG&M found stupid challenging in the first place.
OK, here’s what looks like it might be an actual conservative talking point. HotAir commenter:
This “swine flu emergency” reminds me of Y2K.
Et tu Surber? “Flu shots for thee, not we … Oddly enough, the children of Jules Crittenden got flu shots. Hmm… ”
Not so odd, the pediatriac practice they’ve gone to since they were born got a batch, and the wife put them in line with everyone else on their “vulnerable” list. Apparently one kid’s history of childhood asthma did it. That kid got the shot, the other two got the nasal mist. Me and the wife, waiting with the rest of Massachusetts for the inmates to get theirs first. But it’s a bonus teachable epidemic-related social upheaval moment though: The unfounded suspicions, petty jealousies and hurtful asperions kick in quick!
Driscoll: The other difference between swine flu and name-your-Bush-era hurricane? No prominent Republicans rooting for the flu.
Welcome, HotAir, Surberistas, etal. Always so good to see you. Remember your war-wounded. It’s Valour IT time again. In other business, learn about The $cience of Harry Potter! Also, the nexus of Hollywood and Washington DC: it’s the health-care pitch embedded in Saw VI. Meanwhile, WWII in HD … is this impressive-looking Gary Sinise-narrated project the antidote to that wretched Ken Burns dirge? Producer-director Frederic Lumiere’s involvement suggests maybe not.
(Care to comment? Use the “contact” link to assure me you are a real human being interested in commenting on the topics at hand. Include your preferred screenname and temporary password. Lefty Kumbayah singers, moderate handwringers, meanspirited rightwingers all welcome. This is a free speech zone as long as you keep it clean and make an effort to be accurate.)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:40 am on Sunday, October 25, 2009
9 Responses to “A Teachable Moment”
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October 25th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I am not understanding how making this a national emergency creates more vaccines.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:53 am
[...] enough, the children of Jules Crittenden got their swine flue vaccinations. Hmm… var addthis_pub = ”; var addthis_language = ‘en’;var addthis_options = ‘email, [...]
October 25th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
LG&M does indeed find stupid challenging.
saveliberty………what Obama did is a measure to increase the effectiveness of medical care by reducing the paperwork. Too bad the Feds can’t do this on a regular basis, as it would reduce costs as well. But the Dhimmicrats wouldn’t be able to whine about health care “reform”, so that’ll never happen. Unfortunately.
The vaccine issue was brought up when the mandate to develop contingency plans for pandemic influenza came out during Dubya’s administration, back 2006 or so. The matter has been aggravated by the Fed’s insisting on getting involved with vaccine manufacturing.
And if it sounds like I am thanking and/or defending Obama for doing his job, I am.
However, I hasten to emphasize, there was extensive contingency planning at the national level for this under Dubya. It’s likely that Obama is simply implementing those plans, or some variation of them.
Yep……….Obama is just more Bush!
October 25th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Thanks, The_Real_JeffS! I am concerned that this is another crisis that would not be “wasted” and that there is some leverage to coerce the health care reform but not anything anyone wants bill (whatever it winds up being) through.
October 25th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I’m hearing locally that there have been 90 fatalities nationwide and one of them was a child here that had a pre-existing condition that precluded standard treatment. With the understanding that there have been other cases in the area that haven’t been fatal, I’m thinking that the creation of a crises, that then couldn’t be wasted, is in progress.
I also think that I’m starting to have a jaundiced view of male ballet dancers.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I am a Med Tech at a small rural hospital. We do about 30-40 Rapid Flu tests daily. These test for both A and B strains. Possibly five of them are positive but usually less. About half of these are referrals from clinics and half from the ER. We only do Swine Flu tests if the doctor orders and the patient insists but they have to be sent to a reference lab and takes about five days to get the results. They also cost $290.00 and Medicare/Medicaid won’t pay for it. If it is Flu A, which is what H1N1 is, treat it with Tamiflu, force fluids, rest, repeat. If severely dehydrated, you get IV fluids, Tamiflu and rest. BTW, where is the government getting their numbers?
October 25th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
jdgjtr just passed the medical industry sanity test I was talking about in the last post.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Re: <>
Guy must be young. It reminds me of the “swine flu emergency,” back in the ’70s.
As far as I can figure, the swine flu is just the flu. So I can’t see how this will prove to be Obamas’ Katrina. Fears are so exaggerated that anyone could prepare for the reality better by just doing nothing than by any emergency preparations.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:17 pm
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