Posted on 05/10/2007 8:37:52 AM PDT by Gritty
WASHINGTON
Military and civilian health facilities will be overwhelmed if a nationwide flu pandemic hits the United States, and the National Guard may have to be called out to provide medical help and even enforce a quarantine, the Defense Department warned in a report released Wednesday.
As the Pentagon fights criticism from congressional Democrats that the war in Iraq is depleting the National Guard's ability to help out in domestic crises, the 86-page report says a possible pandemic could require National Guard assistance in supplying medical aid or isolating groups of people to minimize further spread of the disease.
About 3 million people could die as a result of a possible pandemic, with up to 35 percent of the population falling ill, reads the report dated August 2006 and titled "The Department of Defense Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza."
According to the report, in the event of a pandemic or a bioterror attack, the Defense Department may be called by the president to assist civilian authorities in minimizing the spread of disease by placing restrictions on interstate transportation. Jurisdictions, the report adds, would be overwhelmed and unable to provide essential commodities and services. In addition, the nation will not be able to rely on airlines.
*snip*
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Well, I’m doing some gardening today (and all summer looks like) which involves digging out sectors, renovating the soil, and refilling. Looks like graves at the moment.
No need to worry, we have contracts with the Chinese to provide us with bulk shipmnets of the flu vaccine.
Certainly not beyond debate, more like beyond our control.
Like I said, give your local EMA a call and ask about your local EOP. I'll bet they'll be more than happy to show you around it.
Better yet, see if they're taking volunteers.
You're a smart guy and I bet you could make some invaluable contributions.
Best,
L
In that case, we are doomed!
I have silver dollar sized tomatoes already. It's 90+ degrees here presently...and, a good time to take a nap.
The ground was frozen again this morning. Had to wait until 10 to continue digging. But, some of the trees are starting to bud. This is nothing like 3-4 years ago when we had Global Warming and it was 80 already.
I have been semi, almost, marginally, kind of sort of, recruited to get involved as a First Responder for when the (”no question of a doubt it is coming!”) pandemic actually happens.
No $$$$, no help, no nothing, but maybe someday a real badge, and permission to run a few red lights. That part would be cool.
I’m sort of the mind set that the “sky is falling” position is just evidence that nothing ever really changes.
If a pandemic comes, and people start dying all over the place, you’ll either be dead, or immune to whatever it is.
At least I won’t have to worry about my Comcast Cable bill for a while.
P.S. I have all due respect for those who may be charged with saving my life, or the lives of my family some day. I hope we can keep the issue of questioning science and the MSM’s doomsday reporting on it separate from our feelings towards the responders personally.
Not for 3, 5, 10 years at least.....so they want us to spend time worrying about SARS, etc.
If the pandemic is coming, the best thing to do is buy enough food for two weeks...put it on your credit card if you have to, get more shells for your shotgun and stay the hell home for the duration.
I dont have any intention of interacting with guardsmen.
Let us review,,,tamiflu, gallons of orange juice, soup and crackers, fruit, lots of tissues and shotgun shells in case someone tries to take your stuff.
And stay home..you cant get in trouble if you arent out there where trouble is happening.
Epidemics are part of the natural order, to ignore than is foolish. In the past, we could not do anything about it, now we can if we have the will and foresight.
A flu pandemic is not the end of the world, we as humanity have survived many in the past. However, it is not unreasonable to expect 10-30 million dead with a dramatic shutdown of the economy lasting 6 months. That is a huge price to pay for something we can potentially avoid.
At the risk of being called chicken little, I am a physician boarded by the American College of Preventive Medicine and I know enough to be very concerned about pandemic flu, multi drug resistant tuberculosis, resurgence of malaria, and a whole host of problems that are lurking.
The government has wasted billions of dollars on programs that have not helped us, but public hygiene (the old term) is a shining example of their success. Most of our increased life expectancy occurred before doctor had any effective medicines. It was caused by public health doctors getting to the root cause of disease and preventing it before it occurred. Safe water, insect control, sewage treatment, quarantines, etc. To walk away from that success, assuming that we are just healthier now is foolhardy.
This isn't 1919, massive populations have not just faced 5 years of severe deprivation, etc.
I teach complexity modeling for a living and I can tell you all the spreading models are utter balderdash.
Be as prepared as you like and nobody is walking away from anything. Someone is however engaging in typical irresponsible scaremongering unsupported by the slightest tincture of fact.
It is nonsense, been tried too many times, we know the drill.
I’ve been involved in public health for a decade. When I started in the field, a group of deranged environmentalists almost got a water chlorination ban passed in South America, we would have seen hundreds of thousands of prevenable deaths. No hyperbole, if you are familiar with computer modeling, combine third world plumbing and no chlorine in the water and calculate the results.
Similar people in the United States are trying to get childhood immunizations banned either outright or through the back door by suing manufacturers out of existence
It would take some bad luck to get the right combination of virulence and transmission to get a some of the numbers they come up with but even a minor pandemic would create economic chaos.
Before you go to bed, think about a rather small outbreak of a very-slowly-lethal virus and dificult-to-contract disease, which was only occuring in a small segment of the population in the late 1980’s. It could have been stopped with rather simple public health measures but nobody had the public will to deal with the problem.
Now picture something as easy to catch as a cold, with a 1% lethality rate in healthy persons. Not an unreasonable assumption, it could be worse. In our current political atmosphere, do you think that we could manage that situation. Do you think it is unreasonable for somebody to worry about it?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1831347/posts?page=20#20
collidal gold
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cg_exchange/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.