I hope it's just something technical to do certain things. Really, the flu a national emergency?

[RB TexLa]

[Horse with no Name]

1. Yeah.

You ever pick up a history book?

[RB TexLa]

4. So this flu will be subject to the same health care technology as the ones from history

ok, thanks, I didn't know that.

[Horse with no Name]

7. It's relative if the resources aren't distributed to the populace

You have flu symptoms, you call the doc. They tell you stay home, drink plenty of fluids, take Tylenol and Motrin for the fever and aches and pains. Mostly, stay out of the ER's.
If you need help, go to your physicians office.
You have severe flu symptoms with compromised respiratory infection, you call the Dr. office. They tell you to go to the ER.

So yes, the majority of it is being fought outside the trenches of the hospitals and clinics. They are starting to ration out the Tamiflu. There are no more seasonal flu shots available in most places. H1N1 vaccines are limited.

According to records--we are seeing peak "INTENSE" flu numbers across the nation.

1000 people have died and we are barely into flu season.

Non-traditional populations are dying--the young, the healthy.

It is affecting the worker class.

There are many parallels to the great flu epidemics. If you choose to ignore that, what else to say?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. If I may add a couple things our OP has no clue about

triage is already talking about who to put on ventilators and who not to... due to expected shortages of them.

The same goes for (worst case) even silly things like antibiotics for secondary infections.

Some of us, you included, read CDC and actually understand the goobley gook

As to the dead... as of last week we had lost as many kids in less than a month as we usually do over the course of the season.

Oh and I am glad to see you are doing better.

[Horse with no Name]

12. Thank you thank you

It is an eye-opener.
Tested positive for influenza A and B--still waiting on the state to chime in on H1N1, but doc says that he has no doubt since I got so sick so fast and that it aggressively attacked my respiratory system.
I do have to say that the care I received in the ER was topnotch. I don't think there was a test that they didn't do.
I was put in isolation immediately and it was 100% heeded.
I saw a Physicians Assistant, the ER physician, my personal physician and my personal pulmonologist in the span of the 7 hours I was a guest in a large busy metro ER. I was taken for two radiologic procedures so I saw 2 X-ray techs, 4 nurses and was put on monitors and checked frequently. I was actually impressed with the intensity of care I received. I was sent home with appropriate medications and instructions. It's hard to please a nurse, you know!
The only complaint any of us had was with the insurance company.

[elleng]

15. Good to hear this, Horse.

21 year old daughter had fever+ 10 days ago, went to Univ Hosp. (WV) and was cared for similar to you, I think. No more fever, but still coughing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. As hard as a medic I know

we can be a pain...

:-)

I read about your albuterol and home inhaler... god a simple cold kicked my ass... I can't wait to get me jab.

[Horse with no Name]

20. Yeah in his disgust with my insurance company

He also sent me home some racemic epi for my nebulizer and a heplock with injectable epi...in case things went decidedly south.
Thankfully, I didn't have to use them and pulled the heplock after 24 hours.:whew:

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. With good reason....

those are not to be trifled with...

Good lord, why we need a single payer system!

[Horse with no Name]

23. Absolutely. Because in all honesty

if I was in need of either of those things, not sure I would be able to get to them fast enough.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. I know...

You should have been admitted...

Lordly...

The albuterol, yes I get it...even if I would be a little on pins and needles beyond the inhaler... epi? I HATE insurance companies.

[vadawg]

29. eek they havent got to you yet, i thought as a first responder you would have been done early

i got my vac nearly three weeks ago...

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. I am no longer one, or they would

but I am in the priority due to medical conditions.

[HughMoran]

2. Yes, it is the former

...it removes certain red-tape...

[Kerrytravelers]

3. Yes. Pandemics are considered national emergencies. From my understanding, this recent incarnation

has pandemic potential. I'm glad to see the Administration out in front of this, which will likely save many lives.




EDITED for grammar.

[jbnow]

26. Already declared a pandemic on June 11, 2009 by WHO

I wonder if freepers are writing about this as Obama's way to detain people or use the military or whatever their plots.
bush himself used a flu pandemic as an example of when he might need to use the military to quarantine a city. Which wouldn't work, he just really wanted congress to authorize him that power.

From another side of the political spectrum Louis Farrakhan warned crowd that flu vaccine was developed to kill people to lower the population and make it look like illness. (Which would be a better plot line for the flu itself since if shots killed people it wouldn't look natural but who says you need to be logical in paranoid fantasies)

[Kerrytravelers]

32. The WHO and the WH are two seperate entities. That may be why the WH made their own declaration.

I'm sure the freepers are making all kinds of ludicrous accusations. I don't think Obama is looking to quarantine cities or kill people to lower the population.

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. The US declared this a National Health Emergency back in March

and is following the steps recommended by WHO.

The WHO declaration triggered actions around the world, including this declaration.

[Kerrytravelers]

36. Seems perfectly logical to me.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Yes, and this is the second step

the first was the declaration of a National Health Emergency back in April. This is the second and NECESSARY step.

You may not think this is necessary... guv'ment vs precious individual rights and me vs we, but this is a critical step.

If it stays the way it is, some of it will be implemented. If this should mutate... all of it will be implemented.

[MadHound]

6. Let's see, millions coming down with a really nasty, possibly life threatening disease

Schools and businesses across the country closing due to this disease, yeah, I'd say that it is a national emergency.

You're right, part of this declaration is a legal caveat, it allows the government to formally mobilize a number of agencies to combat this problem. But having gone through the swine flu myself, let me tell you, it isn't your everyday walk in the park flu. There were a couple of days when I thought that death was a good option. It knocked me flat for a week and took me nearly a month to recover because a lot of people get a follow up bacterial infection in their upper respiratory system.

Swine flu is real, it's a big deal. I don't think that this is overreacting at all.

[OHdem10]

8. When the President made the announcement, he explained it was

being done in order that Health Workers etc could implement
certain procedures that cuts down on paperwork and frees
workers to administer vaccines. In other words, they can
operate as if in a dire emergency .

[kestrel91316]

10. It's a bureaucratic formality having to do with Medicare and Medicaid.

[pinto]

11. Yeah. Allows relaxing some regulations to allow greater access to care. One I've seen mentioned

is that it allows for Medicare reimbursement to off-site ER centers > 200 yards from a hospital or clinic. Current Medicare regulations don't allow for reimbursement beyond this limit. Many large hospitals have parking lots available for outside ER facilities, and emergency plans in place for them, that are more than 200 yards from the building. The emergency declaration permits Medicare reimbursement to support them.

Another aspect to the declaration I've heard is simplified "admission" procedures, so people can be seen, treated and / or vaccinated in a timely manner, and more people can be seen by available staff.

The declaration provides more flexibility for providers if H1N1 builds to a broad, national pandemic and is a component of good pre-emptive public health planning, imo.

[Horse with no Name]

13. I actually think that it is setting the scenario to create

sanitorium-type facilities for people to recuperate in case the spreading gets so out of hand that it cannot be controlled by any other method.

[pinto]

17. It's not an unheard of approach. My uncle came home from WWII with TB.

The VA offered him a room at a sanatorium in Arizona, at no cost. He took the offer (he was single at the time), recovered and found his life long career(s) in the time it took him to recuperate. Got into MIT, became a mathematician and continued as a watercolorist. Worked on a team plotting the early Gemini and Apollo missions, resigned at the height of the VietNam War and moved on to a career in art education.

[Horse with no Name]

19. Don't get me wrong. I don't think it is a bad idea at all.

People do need to rest and recuperate.

[pinto]

22. Yeah, I got that.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. That was in the Declaration back in April

this enables that.

:-)

Emergency Plan Geek <----------

Helps when you help write them...

[kentuck]

14. How many deaths before it should be declared an emergency?

10,000? 50,000? 100,000? 1,000,000?

[pinto]

24. Zero.

Hurricanes are often cause for emergency declarations before any loss of life or property.

And most national emergency declarations have historically been about foreign trade / foreign relations issues. Who knew?

[saltpoint]

27. An appropriate call by the president.

He made an informed decision on a genuine threat to the stability of day-to-day goings-on in workplaces and schools, which is both medically serious and of national concern.

[stray cat]

28. Read it! It is to clear away a bunch of paper work in case hospitals gets too many people

unless you love paperwork its a good idea.

[NoPasaran]

30. It's a bureaucratic formality

It's a bureaucratic formality that allows FEMA to put people who don't wear seat belts in concentration camps.

[Coventina]

31. You win this thread!!!!

Your prize?

You get to buy me a new keyboard!

:rofl:

[cherokeeprogressive]

33. Fear-mongering a year ago, a national emergency today. n/t