The swine flu rethink begins

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  1

  pdakin@...

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  RE: The swine flu rethink begins

  Good article, but I?d like to comment on the FEMA analogy which touched a nerve. If in an emergency, the best offense is a good defense, why single out FEMA? My business and my sister's and mother's homes were washed away in Katrina. But let's honestly prioritize blame: First, the individual for not preparing; second, the Army Corps for creating and, for years, refusing to close the MS River Gulf Outlet; third, faulty levee construction; forth, failure of the local government (too many ways to list); fifth, failure of the state government by refusing assistance from almost everyone including boats from LA Wildlife to (for days) refusing Federal aid; and maybe sixth, FEMA for not properly responding to a situation that has never been encountered.
  
  It was not the "deterioration at FEMA that went on for years" that caused the magnitude of the disaster. It was the deterioration of the proper order of responsibility that has been going on for years, beginning with self and exacerbated by tolerating and relying on incompetent local, state, and federal bureaucracies (in that order.) Katrina was a great example of what happens when our view of responsibility is backwards.
  
  Did FEMA screw up? Of course it did. But take it from someone who lived through it. If our primary reliance is on Big Brother to efficiently react to ANYTHING much less something they have never encountered, we deserve what we get.

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  2

  rob_from_wales

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  RE: The swine flu rethink begins

  Is the biggest lesson we need to learn the fact that the developing nations need to bolster the health care in underdeveloped countries to contain any future disease that could become a pandemic.

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  3

  zclayton3

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  Not FEMA

  FEMA did not fail in 2005, FEMA had been subsumed by Dept of Homeland Security, whatever that does. FEMA had been whipsawed by so many changes in that reorganization that I'm a little surprised they were able to do as much as they did. Don't blame FEMA, blame the DHS yokels looking for dirty bombs under the bed and forgetting that emergencies don't always come wrapped in technical packages.

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  4

  ulyssesmsu

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  Don't blame FEMA

  The problems after Katrina weren't the fault of FEMA. They were the fault of Louisiana and its corrupt government. That's what has gone back "for years beforehand." Blaming FEMA is simplistic nonsense and a complete misunderstanding of what really happened.

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  5

  kingtj

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  RE: The swine flu rethink begins

  I think it's also at least worth noting that quite a few individuals out there believed this H1N1 thing was suspect from the beginning. There are certainly some unanswered questions still floating around about it, including some comments indicating this virus had to be man-made in a lab.
  
  It sure seemed to me that government officials were making every effort to maximize the "fear levels" about H1N1, even as news reports were contradicting their statements at every turn. (For example, I remember the news story about the couple that both contracted H1N1, yet they decided to go ahead and get married. The papers showed photos of them giving their vows with masks on, so they wouldn't infect others at the ceremony. That's not exactly the type of behavior you expect people to participate in if they're suffering from a deadly variant of the flu that requires millions of dollars of government money to be spent on an emergency basis for vaccine!)
  
  Personally, I think government got duped into making a big pharmaceutical firm a LOT of money, and then struggled to justify their bad decisions for months after the fact.

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  nhokkanen

  02/08/10 | Report as spam

  re: The swine flu rethink begins -- How about adding consumer rights?

  February 22 is the next FDA VRBPAC meeting, at which flu strains for next year's vaccines will be chosen. Look for H1N1 to be added to next year's seasonal flu vaccine.
  
  Before your next vaccination, look into your lack of consumer rights, should you suffer an adverse reaction to the influenza vaccine.
  - Do you file your claim with the VICP or the CICP?
  - How many cases are filed seasonally?
  - What percentage are thrown out of court, and why?
  - What medical treatments are available for your injuries?
  - Who pays?
  - What happens if you develop a chronic autoimmune condition and are rendered unable to work?
  
  Look into the actual number of influenza deaths reported by your state's Department of Health. Compare those with the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. H1N1 fatalities are far fewer than the "36,000 deaths" attributed to seasonal flu -- which, if pneumonia is removed, amount to fewer than 3,000. Look into nutritional supplements that boost your body's immune system function. Read up on Vitamin D deficiency.
  
  Weigh the best interests for yourself and your family -- your government isn't.

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  7

  LarryPTL

  02/09/10 | Report as spam

  The peak

  Swine flu peaked at about the same time the normal seasonal flu peaked. Add the two together and you get the unusual peak.
  
  I'd like to see the same charts with swine flu only, other flu only, and a third with uncertain which flu and see what happens. I bet the peaks won't be out of line with what normally happens each year.

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  DanaBlankenhorn

  02/09/10 | Report as spam

  pdakin@.

  In the 1996 hurricane (Andrew I believe) FEMA did an outstanding job. President Bush allowed the agency to go fallow under Michael Brown. One of the key takeaways any expert gives for a failure of an agency is poor preparation, not having procedures and materials beforehand. That was the case in 1995. It was not the case in 2005.

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  DanaBlankenhorn

  02/09/10 | Report as spam

  zclayton3 ulyssesmsu

  The first responsibility in any natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake goes to the federal government, not the state.
  
  The feds have the resources, not the state.
  
  The fact that FEMA was placed under DHS in no way absolves it from failure to plan and prepare.

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  DanaBlankenhorn

  02/09/10 | Report as spam

  kingtj

  This was not just US policy we're talking about, but the World Health Organization, which was monitoring the pandemic from the beginning. Death rates in the first month averaged 7%, extraordinarily high for a flu.
  
  This cynicism that "government is bad" and "business is bad" is damaging to both our democracy and to capitalism. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they are not.
  
  Officials had a choice. They could get in front of what was happening or they could wait for more data. Maybe waiting for more data would have been OK, in this case.
  
  But if it weren't -- if the response to it were like Katrina, with the President blowing out John McCain's birthday candles while the hurricane was striking the coast -- the outcome would have been worse.

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  11

  DanaBlankenhorn

  02/09/10 | Report as spam

  LarryPTL

  Uh, no. There's a link to a full chart in the story, and the illustration is part of that chart.
  
  This flu season peaked early. There was less regular flu than normal. But many hospitals are still taking precautions, limiting visits due to continuing concerns about H1N1 and its easy transmission.
  
  Previous flu seasons peaked later in the season (around now) and those peaks were all much, much lower than in this flu. Half as high. Deaths were also much, much lower than with this flu season.

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  12

  riverat1

  02/12/10 | Report as spam

  RE: The swine flu rethink begins

  I recently saw a story that said the H1N1 flue apparently hits Native Americans harder than other racial groups. If that is true then it may be that the early reports of a high mortality rates from the virus is due to the fact that Mexico where the virus originated has a high incidence of Native American blood in the population.
  
  One of my coworkers has been out since October because of H1N1 and was in the hospital for several weeks. It was touch and go whether he would survive for a while. He has started to return to work part time but it may be a couple more months before he returns full time.