The White House That Cried Wolf Sooey!
Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, and the Los Angeles Times marked the news with the headine:
It’s official! Obama declares an H1N1 swine flu national emergency. So what?
The column mentions a couple of things the Times hopes this announcement will accomplish.
1) Perhaps persuade more skeptical Americans to get the vaccine that’s late making its way around the country (only some 11 million doses have been shipped so far) and that so many seem to have serious doubts about.
A new poll — see link below — shows that 62% of adult Americans have no intention of getting the protection because they don’t believe the danger, don’t trust the government’s urgings or its assurances of safety.
2) Show through strategic political communications that the Obama White House is right on top of the case from the very start. (Do the names Hurricane Katrina and George W. Bush ring a bell here?)
Political communications don’t show you’re on top of the case. They just show you’re talking. When a national health care emergency is declared at a time when the Democrats have health care on their political agenda, their timing is immediately suspect. Did you notice the phrases don’t believe and don’t trust? This White House has cried wolf so many times, they are reaping the crop of skepticism sown by their frequent and flagrant lies. By continually demonstrating a predilection to dramatize a situation for their agenda, and with the words of Rahm never let a serious crisis go to waste Emanuel still ringing, this administration has no credibility.
CBS News had this report on Wednesday, October 21st:
Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?
CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared
If you’ve been diagnosed “probable” or “presumed” 2009 H1N1 or “swine flu” in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu….
In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases. The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there’s an epidemic?
Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.
CBS News learned that the decision to stop counting H1N1 flu cases was made so hastily that states weren’t given the opportunity to provide input….
…we asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico….
CDC continues to monitor flu in general and H1N1 through “sentinels,” which basically act as spot-checks to detect trends around the nation. But at least one state, California, has found value in tracking H1N1 flu in greater detail.
“What we are doing is much more detailed and expensive than what CDC wants,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, California’s Acting Chief of Emergency Preparedness and Response. “We’re gathering data better to answer how severe is the illness. With CDC’s fallback position, there are so many uncertainties with who’s being counted, it’s hard to know how much we’re seeing is due to H1N1 flu rather than a mix of influenza diseases generally. We can tell that apart but they can’t.”
This CBS article means we really do not know exactly how prevalent H1N1 is.
With most cases diagnosed solely on symptoms and risk factors, the H1N1 flu epidemic may seem worse than it is.
CBS also discusses the problems unconfirmed cases cause with vaccination. The vaccine is in short supply and it may be used unnecessarily with those who are already immune because they have actually had H1N1. They are also needlessly put at risk for the possibility of contracting Guillain-Barre syndrome.
Fox News has a quote from the CDC on deaths and hospitalizations. While I assume the hospitalizations and deaths from swine flu were confirmed by state labs, I’m going to ignore the statements in the article about how prevalent the swine flu is, because the CBS report indicates the CDC doesn’t have statistics.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. “We expect it to occur in waves, but we can’t predict when those waves will happen.”
The CBS report is from last Wednesday and they indicate they still have not received all of the information they have requested from the Department of Health and Human Services. So is it really time to declare a national emergency? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states:
Every year in the United States, on average:
(For more on the disagreements about the flu death statistics, go here.).
Why did the CDC tell states to stop testing and stop counting individual H1N1 cases? Is this incompetence? playing politics? Remember what CBS said above?
Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.
If the swine flu pandemic does become more serious, it could become Obama’s Katrina. Questions will be asked about the CDC, the HHS and the vaccine delivery problems. Any genuine efforts done to combat problems will be lost in the storm of accusations of playing politics with lives.
In Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf, no one believed the boy when the wolf actually did come. The moral of the story was:
Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed.
__________
H/T: Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Fox News, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BeWell@Stanford, SmartAboutHealth, Wikipedia.
[1]
INC
I posted this already in the previous thread. But it is more applicable to this one.
It was reported that the Obamas are not going to have their daughters vaccinated. Now, how is that decision going to persuade others to get the flue shot that the President is not willing to give his own family!
[2]
It’s not! It shows that it’s all hype.
The CBS article is explosive, IMHO. They must be competing with Fox for Enemy #1.
[3]
This can be one of those “teachable moments.” Barack can go on TV with the Three Little Pigs, Porkey and Petuna. Then we can see once and for all who has the biggest butt – Michelle or Petuna. Understand they had to use a hack saw to remove the hula hoop from around Michelle’s butt.
[4]
Understand they had to use a hack saw to remove the hula hoop from around Michelle’s butt.~bc
You channeled my pithy poem.
[5]
Let me say just how much I distrust Zero and Michelle. They have said no to the vaccine for their kids. They will undoubtedly get grief for this. They could throw up their hands and say fine here look we are giving our kids the shot on national tv, and you would have a tough time convincing me it wasn’t a B vitamin shot. No way is my family taking that.
[6]
The Obama’s govern as if the country is full of three year old children. Remember when you could talk about anything when your kids were that age? The kids just believed whatever you said, and why not? How could they know any better?
Obama telling a reporter that he wasn’t going to immunize his kids, after having his health czar intruct others to do so is like telling the kiddos to go to bed because it is their bedtime and “don’t they want to make mommy and daddy happy?”
Remember what happened whenever you questioned your parents at that age?: “Because I’m the mommy, that’s why.” was the response you got. No doubt Obama will have a grown up response too: “Because we have government health care and you don’t, that’s why.”
[7]
This emergency declaration stinks to high heaven. The bamster has used the flu scare every time his health bill is in trouble, and this does not seem to be any different.
Can’t get the bill out of committee before the August recess? Send Sebelius out with some phony statistics. Can’t get 60 to invoke cloture? Declare a national emergency.
Never waste a crisis.
I think you are right JustMary. You cannot trust these weasels.
[8]
Thanks for the post, INC
I had alluded to the inconsistencies regarding H1N1 emergency declaration in the previous thread, but my posts were merely suppositions. The timing is what bothered me. Thank you for your hard work.
Obama has now created the crisis that he will use to control health care, even if its only for a short while. He will mandate that every state have x-amount of vaccinations available and that “everybody who wants one” including those who don’t (health-care officials, govt officials, miliary) will get one. When the crisis ends (all flu seasons end) the Obama administrations and the media will point out how well government “managed” the crisis. It will be enough for the rest of the Democrats and a few Republians to sign on to ObamaCare.
Remember with emergency declarations, the states can borrow money from the federal government at a reduced rate. Watch what the states do with this.
[9]
Tony, I was tracking the open thread off and on today. I am skeptical about everything this WH does. You’re right to question the timing.
When I saw yours (or someone else’s reference) to stats I started digging at the CDC site. I stumbled across the CBS article in a general search on the swine flu. The headline was a stunner to me when I saw the recent date of the report.
[10]
The situation with the Obama’s kids is a tell-tale story of how socialized medicine will work if implemented. His kids will have the finest health care because he is part of the elite. But the pheasants need to get a risky vaccination because we need to reduce costs and we don’t want you racking up an expensive hospital bill. But hey, if the vaccine kills you, we save even more money!!
[11]
Think maybe drudge’s take it right:
911=patriot act
h1n1 = healthcare bill
If your against healthcare bill your either with us or your with the diseases! lol
[12]
The factual irony is all the expenditures to get the research done, the minimal testing completed and the doses paid for were allocated under the Bush administration.