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Edited on Fri Feb-17-06 01:20 PM by seafan
Pardon my cynicism, but this tremendous flu-panic push will benefit wonderfully a certain group of people. It ain't you and me.
Here are just a few snips from our newspapers over the past week: Jeb: Get ready for fluTALLAHASSEE — Florida health officials are prepared to see as many as 3.2 million residents stricken in an influenza pandemic, killing as many as 20,000. State emergency response plans for an “inevitable” pandemic flu pose a grim scene that includes shortages in hospital beds and morgue space and expected shortages in anti-viral medication to at least treat it. The scenario, Gov. Jeb Bush said earlier this month after a drill, would be “devastating” to Florida as schools close, tourism slumps, and even going out for groceries becomes problematic. State conference addresses threat of flu pandemic Early on in an outbreak, state options would include voluntary isolation, quarantines, travel restrictions and school and work closures. In the plan, health officials advocate frequent hand-washing, staying home if one feels ill and avoiding public gatherings. Though a Health Department advisory board states there is ''no scientific evidence to suggest that self isolation is a highly effective way of reducing disease incidence,'' it is ''one of the few disease control strategies'' Florida will have at its disposal. So does this mean that we will be forced out of our homes and into shelters, forced to submit to medical exams, invasive treatment, and involuntary vaccination because this *advisory board* thinks staying home is *not* a good option? Who protects our homes and property then? *This won't be as easy as these people think*. Flu worries not being ignoredHealth officials are ordering Tamiflu, the anti-influenza drug, but demand far outstrips supply. snip Johnny Preston, dean of students at Stewart Elementary, worries that too much attention will spread unnecessary fear among his students. But he also worries how a poor county like Gadsden, where district officials scramble for more education dollars every year, could weather an outbreak. "It's hard right now to get kids in to see a dentist," he said.But, but, but, the Chimp sat in that classroom on 9-11 for 30 more minutes because HE didn't want to frighten the children! Jeb, what is wrong with you??Florida prepares for flu pandemicGov. Jeb Bush told 700 health-care, government and law-enforcement workers and others...//..Florida is especially vulnerable to a pandemic because of the high number of tourists who come here from throughout the world,... snip Speakers focused on such issues as and the challenges facing schools and private businesses. They offered few solutions, saying many details must be handled at the local level.
Moreover, no one should expect the federal government to ride in on a white horse and save the day, they said. By their very nature, pandemics affect multiple regions of the world simultaneously, making it necessary for each community to look after its own.
"The reality is that local preparation is the foundation" of the response to a deadly flu outbreak, said Michael Leavitt, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services. "Any community that fails to prepare with the that somehow, in the end, the federal government will be able to rescue them will be tragically wrong."
snip
Avian influenza, or bird flu, is carried by birds and remains mostly a threat to animals. But at least 169 people have become infected with the virus as well. It is extremely deadly, killing half of the people who fall sick. But bird flu has not reached pandemic status because the illness cannot be passed readily from person to person.
Let's see, 169 people worldwide have become infected, about 85 have died and the other 6 billion have been lucky?
Officials warn Florida to plan for pandemic
State and federal officials who met in Tallahassee on Thursday said they were planning for a probable influenza pandemic and warned that local communities and individuals should prepare by stockpiling food and water.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said that during a global pandemic, the federal government would have few resources to spare, and states, counties and communities, as well as families and businesses, would largely be on their own.
''Any community that fails to prepare with the premise that the federal government will rescue them will be tragically wrong,'' Leavitt said during the pandemic flu summit with Gov. Jeb Bush and other officials.
Federal officials repeatedly referred to projections that an outbreak would sideline 40 percent of Americans, shutting down workplaces and schools and hobbling the economy. Florida is counting on cooperation from its business community and residents in preparing for what health officials told some 700 people attending Thursday's summit is a ''probable'' pandemic.
The current threat is avian flu, which so far has killed 91 people since 2003, mostly in Asia. The virus is alarmingly similar in attack to the Spanish flu, which swept the world in 1918 and killed some 500,000 U.S. residents, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding.
snip
In the event of a pandemic, the federal government, through the CDC and Leavitt's agency, would control distribution of vaccines, including setting priority lists. A planning agreement Bush signed with Leavitt also agrees Florida will allow federal oversight of how it intends to distribute anti-viral medications such as Tamiflu.
In return, the federal government promised to help Florida get more of the drug. State health department officials said Florida has told Swiss producer Roche it would buy $33.8 million of Tamiflu, enough to treat 1.8 million residents, and rely on the federal government to provide doses to treat another 2.8 million Floridians.
Federal officials painted a grim picture of the national crisis that could occur during an outbreak. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Alfonso Martinez-Fonts said federal estimates predict a 2 to 6 percent drop in the gross national product, and deliveries of food, gasoline and even chlorine to treat public water supplies would be uncertain.
Much of the state's job would be to keep Florida functioning, helping hospitals, power companies and businesses. As is his message in contending with hurricanes, Florida Emergency Director Craig Fugate said it is important to educate the population to take care of itself, freeing resources for those who cannot.
''The public will have to take responsibility for managing their own illness,'' he said.
snip
In the meantime, the federal government is trying to make the U.S. a fertile market for drug manufacturers, to convince them it is worth creating production capacity to produce 300 million doses on short notice. That means convincing more Americans to take seasonal flu shots.
''It tells manufacturers there will be a market for their vaccine'' every year, Gerberding said. //snip//
Among the disaster drills Florida will soon conduct, she said, ''is the pandemic pandemonium,'' an exercise in the chaos and panic that potentially would travel alongside avian flu.
A wrinkle peculiar to Florida and other Gulf Coast states is the probability residents will also have to contend with hurricanes at the same time influenza is crippling the region. It isn't something Bush, who has led Florida through recovery from eight hurricanes in two years, wanted to entertain.
''Boy, don't even ask,'' he said, then adding he could see significant challenges, such as asking residents to shelter in community centers at the same time they are fearful of exposing themselves to influenza.
Bingo!, Jeb!
A point of interest: this Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director (CDC) Dr. Julie Gerberding is the same expert who is telling parents that their concerns about the links between mercury in childhood vaccinations and the occurrence of autism... are unfounded.
No Vaccine-Autism Link, Parents Are Told
New York Times July 20, 2005
By GARDINER HARRIS
Top officials from three of the nation's premier public health agencies held an unusual news conference on Tuesday to say that childhood vaccines are life-saving medicines with no proven link to autism.
''The science says very clearly that vaccines save lives and protect our children,'' said one of the officials, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
snip
Representative Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican who champions the notion that thimerosal has caused an explosion of autism cases around the world, attended the news conference and, after it ended, gave his own press briefing criticizing the public health officials.
''It seemed that this was an effort to assuage public concerns, but I think parents are much smarter than some people give them credit for,'' said Mr. Weldon, who was a practicing physician before his election to the House in 1994.
Thimerosal was largely removed from all childhood vaccines in 2001. Flu shots were an exception, and Mr. Weldon has sponsored legislation to ban preservative levels of thimerosal from them as well.
snip
http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/bgrh/vpost?id=736302&trail=15#1
The take-home message (for me, at least..):
1. Bird flu has affected 169 people since 2003 and has killed 91 of them.
May they rest in peace.
2. Bird flu has missed 6 billion other people, who continue to work and raise their families every day.
3. Pharmaceutical companies want to make Tamiflu. Lots and lots of Tamiflu.
4. Donald Rumsfeld has a stake in Tamiflu production.
5. A very large number of retired people live in Florida. They are not confused by *'s Medicare scam. They are not confused by *'s Social Security scam. They are not confused by voting. They are not confused about why they vote for certain constitutional amendments. They are mad as hell about being targeted for ripoffs by their government. They will not accept this orchestrated flu fear-fest currently in full swing. They want answers.
6. Flu vaccines apparently still contain mercury compounds. Oh, but small amounts are still contained in infant vaccines too. A Florida Republican and many others are fighting to change this.
7. In the event of a natural disaster or true epidemic, with our existing government, we are all on our own.
That is, until we drag these criminals and war profiteers our of our government and imprison them.
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