The White House has decided to use a national emergency declaration to ease some administrative and bureaucratic burdens on hospitals and local governments as they cope with the large numbers of individuals seeking information, vaccine or indeed care for the flu. Still, there remains some lack of clarity as to the true intensity of the problem. To be sure, H1N1 is responding in a different manner than the annual seasonal flu. However, while there has been a spike in mortality beyond the epidemic level according to the CDC, the overall death rate appears to be on par with the annual seasonal flu, at least to date. The major difference is that the vast majority of those hospitalized or dying are under 65. This is in distinction to the seasonal flu where the picture is essentially reversed. As we are still only one month into the fall, it is unclear where the colder months will take us. Still, it is hard to argue with being prepared and no one can fault the White House or question it’s motives for this declaration. The real fly in the ointment is the lack of availability of vaccine for those who wish to receive it. Not sure that any declarations will solve that issue. Still as the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure . . . so we hope . . . jomaxx
Obama declares swine flu national emergency
President Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, allowing hospitals and local governments to speedily set up alternate sites and procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients, the White House said on Saturday. The declaration came when long lines formed around the country for the swine flu vaccine, with distribution that has not met demand. Flu activity — virtually all of it the swine flu — is now widespread in 46 states, a level that federal officials say equals the peak of a typical winter flu season. Millions of people in the United States have had swine flu, known as H1N1, either in the first wave in the spring or the current wave. Although no one has an exact count of the flu’s mortality, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it had killed more than 1,000 Americans and hospitalized over 20,000. The declaration would allow hospitals and local governments to speedily set up alternate sites and procedures if needed to handle any surge of patients, the White House said on Saturday.
Against this backdrop, administration officials emphasized that Mr. Obama’s declaration was largely a bureaucratic move that did not signify any unanticipated worsening of the outbreak of the H1N1 flu nationwide. Nor, they said, does it have anything to do with the recent reports of vaccine shortages. As a practical matter, officials said, the waiver could allow a hospital in danger of being overwhelmed with swine flu patients to remove them, and any emergency room visitors suspected of having the illness, to a location such a local armory to segregate such cases for treatment. In a few cases, hospitals already have set up tents on their sites. But under federal law, if the patients are sent off-site, the hospital might be refused reimbursement for the care as a sanction. Since last winter’s more isolated cases of swine flu, the expectation that the virus would return with a vengeance in this flu season had posed a test of the Obama administration’s preparedness. Officials are mindful that the previous administration’s failure to better prepare for and respond to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left doubts that dogged President George W. Bush to the end of his term.
Obama Declares Swine Flu a National Emergency – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/us/politics/25flu.html?_r=1&hp
Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert – http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE58E6NZ20090917
Flu Pandemic Morbidity / Mortality- http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/ops/hsc-scen-3_flu-pandemic-deaths.htm
Seasonal Influenza (Flu) – http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
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