It Isn't Just Health And Human Services

Instapundit notes a Politico item pointing out the holes in the Obama administration's Health team. But it's actually more than that and indicative of how government always manages to drop the ball. While I don't assume panic is called for by any means, what if the current flu outbreak did represent a worst case scenario?

Pundita points out a large number of informational failures that have already occurred. They make the word preparedness seem like a joke. There are easily a half-dozen different agencies that should have known, or had to know something was up in Mexico long before we were officially notified. And they wonder why taxpayers aren't happy about what we get for our money.

Taking a page from Ryan Sager - how is it that one guy with an ad-supported website did what, apparently, our government couldn't accomplish while spending billions of dollars.

Pundita's insightful analysis here.

But I want to return to the odd statement, "U.S. public health officials did not know about a growing outbreak of swine flu in Mexico until nearly a week after that country started invoking protective measures ..."

But why didn't the U.S. Department of State inform the CDC of the situation in Mexico?

In other words why should the CDC have to wait to learn from Mexican officials that there was a killer flu outbreak in Mexico?

Then there's the NSA. And State's own spy agency. Oh -- and there's the DEA, which has a large presence in Mexico.

Didn't any DEA agents phone stateside in early April and say, 'Ship us more Tamiflu yesterday! There's a strange flu epidemic going on here?'

And say, doesn't the U.S. have an embassy in Mexico City -- which is the locus of one of the biggest outbreaks of the epidemic?

Comments

[nishna]

It's Republicans that are holding up Sebelius's confirmation. Perhaps you should bitch at them.

And it wasn't long ago Republicans were CUTTING funds for pandemic flu preparation from Obama's budget:

After meeting with Mr. Obama, Republican Sen. Susan Collins expressed concern about a number of spending provisions, including $780 million for pandemic-flu preparedness.

[IslamoLlama]

Crazy talk, Nishna. The Democrats are in the majority and Obama controls the White House. This is all their fault, QED.

If we'd just built that border fence along the Texas / California border, none of those germs would have been able to get across. When you think about it, this is so entirely the unconfirmed Secretary of HHS's fault. Maybe if she spent less time aborting babies and more time resisting Reconquista, we wouldn't be in this mess.

[JustOneMan]

Islamo....your all wrong...according to king barry...these problems (pick any) started before I was here...its all Bush's fault!

[Lala]

Do agencies not function during transitions?

[nishna]

40 people sick, one in the hospital, most recovered, no deaths. But all these haters of Nanny government want Obama to shut the country down.

You might want to wait until health officials know a bit more before you lose your head and panic.

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/health/28hong.html?hp

[Pundita]

Malkin clears up the the confusion about GOP and 'cutting' funds for pandemic preparations -- and she does it with help from a Daily Kos contributor. (Also, great pix of Chuck Schumer as Marie "Let Them Eat Pork" Antionette lol.)

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/27/schumer-opposed-flu-pandemic-funding-in-stimulus-too-you-morons/

[RebeccaH]

IMO, nobody thought this was a serious crisis until somebody saw political advantage in it.

[firefirefire]

We are in the very best of hands.
sarc/off

[Charlie (Colorado)]

how is it that one guy with an ad-supported website did what, apparently, our government couldn't accomplish while spending billions of dollars.

You mean "spread anxiety far and wide about something that isn't really all that exciting"?

[templar knight]

"...want Obama to shut the country down."

I guess to a liberal checking airline passengers from Mexico for disease and doing something about the porous border is shutting the country down. You're a damn idiot.

[Assistant Village Idiot]

nishna and IL, those would be scored points if you could just get around the difficulty that the current government just plain didn't have the information it needed, from anywhere. Perhaps the view can be supported that the government agencies are so broken that it would be impossible for Obama to have gotten them up to speed in 100 days; but then you would be left with the problem of defending the need for more of this magical elixer: Government! as the required solution.

Unless, of course, you are trying to seriously sell the idea that Government! works fine if you can just get the right people in charge...

[JustOneMan]

Hmmmmm...before King Barry came into power there wasnt a swine flu pandemic...In office for 100 days and most of the countries he visited are infected....Hmmmmmmm

Maybe he is a carrier

[Dusty]

"Posted by: Charlie (Colorado) | Monday, April 27, 2009 at 03:31 PM"

No, Drudge spread information to the public, information of which the government was, for the most part, ignorant, and way behind the curve on.

No one I've talked to the last few days was overly fearful or anxious. To the contrary, they were all level-headed, informed and making sensible adjustments and preparations, or I should say making preparations for making preparations. Most of the talk on the blogs was level-headed and sensible.

Most of that was due to Drudge, who not only got information to the public, but also got the MSM to actually report on it in between the Obama family fluff stories. And most of the information relayed to the public as to the government's failure to do their job in a reasonable and timely manner despite getting billions to do it -- also of inestimable worth to the taxpaying public -- was due to Drudge reporting early, often, and making those in the MSM do their jobs.

Kudos to Drudge.

[templar knight]

I don't know about a carrier, JustOneMan, but the bastard is a swine. And I use the bastard term loosely, not wanting to insult people who are born out of wedlock through no fault of their own.

[Jimbo]

To hear you King Bush supporters is truly frightening. You still - still - cling to the absurd notion that the boy king would have done anything once the flu hit the fan. Look what Bush didn't do for Osama Been Forgotten, Katrina, WMD's, Iraq, Children all left behind, the bankster mess, etc, etc, etc...

Settle down. We all know the GOP is fiulled with scared WATB. We know this. Obama is doing his best to do good, in spite of the stoopidity from the right side. Maybe Limbaugh has your answers? Maybe Beck has your answers? No, maybe they are guarding their wealth and priviledge so they can continue to lie to you. Palin/Plumber 2012!!!!

[Pundita]

Unnamed State Dept. official has announced that later today State and CDC will issue a travel advisory to Mexico. Gee, maybe I should call State 'slime' more often lol. Also, breaking news: WHO to raise pandemic threat level. Here's the entire report on State:

U.S. set to issue travel warning to Mexico
Mon Apr 27, 2009 3:26pm BST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to issue a travel warning later on Monday urging Americans to avoid all "nonessential" trips to Mexico because of an outbreak of swine flu, a U.S. official said.
Swine flu has killed 103 people in Mexico and has spread to the United States. Spain has reported one case of the virus, the first to be confirmed in Europe.

"There will be a travel warning urging Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico because of the swine flu," said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition he not be named as the warning has not yet been officially announced.

It is likely to be announced by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although the State Department will also carry details on its Web site, the official said.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City announced that it would suspend all visa and nonemergency services for U.S. citizens this week due to the current outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus.

"These are precautionary measures only, taken to best assure the well-being of our clients and staff," said the embassy message.

It also urged travellers to comply with suggestions by Mexican health officials and "be alert to good health and sanitation practices."

While no one outside of Mexico has died, pandemic fears have been raised because the flu appears able to move quickly between humans.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming and Andrew Quinn; Editing by Will Dunham)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE53Q3QV20090427

[Lala]

Obama played golf and flew around the country in his new toys.

[templar knight]

Old Jimbo-Dumbo would be raising holy hell if Bush had been playing golf yesterday while a flu epidemic was crashing through the border. It truly makes one wonder at the sheer hypocrisy of the idiots on the Left.

[IslamoLlama]

"-- its all Bush's fault! --"

It certainly didn't help that Bush's friends in the Senate clipped $900 million from pandemic flu detection and prevention funding. Should the infections spread, you can thank those brave cost cutters Snowe and Collins for sparing you the cost of additional vaccines or Tamaflu treatments.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/27/724835/-Collins,-Republicans,-Killed-Off-Enhanced-Pandemic-Preparedness-

"-- As The Nation's John Nichols points out, not only did Collins kill off the $900 million pandemic preparedness proposal--a budgetary execution called for by that well-regarded public health expert Karl Rove--Collins even brags on her Senate website about blocking passage of the pandemic preparedness initiative. --"

I hope the Republicans remember to wash their hands literally while they do it figuratively. All that time spent in Minnesota airport bathrooms and Louisiana whore houses could cost a few of them their good health.

[templar knight]

As usual, Islamodumbo doesn't know the difference between his asshole and a hole in the ground. Your brilliant President and his band of merry mensies didn't detect the event, and were even behind the Canadians in finding out about the swine flu. No amount of "stimulus" money can cure your and their stupidity. You see, it is a must to detect the obvious before you can react to it.

And worse, even after the idiots knew about the flu, they have still taken no significant action to slow the spread of the virus. Your money theory is just so much bullshit, as Democratic politics have trumped science, according to the director of WHO. I'm real confident that no amount of money would cure the cluelessness of the children now in charge in Washington.

[Lala]

There is no vaccine for swine flu. My insurance company just notified me of that fact. I'd rather only buy my own Tamiflu and not have to buy it for everyone else.

"Detecting the obvious," that's a bright idea.

[JustOneMan]

How long before the Wetbacks crash the border looking for healthcare? Pretty ironic due to the fact that Mexico's health care system is what Barry is looking to build here...

[nishna]

An uninformed racist. What a shock.

[JustOneMan]

"An uninformed racist. What a shock." You must be talkin about Barry right?

Not really its obvious that King Barry hates white males and Jews!

[nishna]

Yeah, you can tell that from looking at his cabinet. Oh wait, there's a bunch of white guys and a Jew, And some Asians, Hispanics, a Black guy, and some women. Even at least one Republican.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/

Like I said: Uninformed Racist.

[Lala]

Maybe it would be a good idea not to hire people on the basis of their race/ethnicity/sex. Qualifications would be a good idea for a change.

[WBestPresidentEver]

Obama has had this flu all along. He brought it back form overseas, then took it to Mexico. Remmber when he was apologizing to the world he was sick then. It is probably a bio attack. He doesn't want to alarm us anymore than he already has.

Meanwhile.....

A prior Swine Flu outbreak occurred at the start of the Obama Presidency. The waste of pork in Congress has spread from the national level and is being forced upon the state level by President Obama. Conservatives in Congress have also been affected by Obama’s Swine Flu(i.e. The Stimulus Package). Many state governments are not taking precaution and willing to be tainted by the Swine Flu Stimulus Package. One state, the GREAT STATE Of TEXAS, is considering ceeding from the Union to prevent further infection of the Swine Flu Stimulus Package.
Thousands of Amercians have taken precautions through innoculating themselves with Tea on April 15th, 2009.
The Swine Flu is also known by another name: Socialism.
If you have found yourself tainted by the Obama Administration’s infection of the Swine Flu Stimulus Package, please seek immediate attention via tea parties and remembering to register to vote in the next Senate elections.
Talk radio and internet(mainly conservative radio hosts like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh or websites such as ConservativePete.wordpress.com or worldnetdaily.com) will keep you up to date on how to prevent the infection of the Swine Flu/Socialism.

[WBestPresidentEver]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/22/missing.virus.sample/index.html?iref=newssearch
updated 8:50 p.m. EDT, Wed April 22, 2009
Fort Detrick is the home of the Army's top biological research facility.

Army: 3 vials of virus samples missing from Maryland facility

Story Highlights
Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis samples missing from Army facility

Virus sickens horses, can be spread to humans through mosquitoes

Investigators say vials may have been in freezer that was destroyed

So far, investigators have found no evidence of criminal activity

From Larry Shaughnessy
CNN Pentagon Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Missing vials of a potentially dangerous virus have prompted an Army investigation into the disappearance from a lab in Maryland.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command agents have been visiting Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, to investigate the disappearance of the vials. Christopher Grey, spokesman for the command, said this latest investigation has found "no evidence of criminal activity."

The vials contained samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. In 97 percent of cases, humans with the virus suffer flu-like symptoms, but it can be deadly in about 1 out of 100 cases, according to Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There is an effective vaccine for the disease and there hasn't been an outbreak in the United States since 1971.

The vials had been at the research institute's facility at Fort Detrick, home of the Army's top biological research facility, for more than a decade. The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist's biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing. The original scientist's records about his vials dated back to the days of paper-and-pen inventories.

During the investigation, the retired scientist and another former Fort Detrick researcher cooperated with investigating agents and, according to Vander Linden, they came back to the facility to help look for the vials.

Vander Linden said the investigators know that several years ago an entire freezer full of biological samples broke down and all the samples had to be safely destroyed. But a complete inventory of what was in the freezer was not done before the samples were destroyed. Vander Linden said there's a "strong possibility" the vials were in that freezer and destroyed, but that isn't known for sure.

This investigation comes two months after all research at the research institute facility at Fort Detrick was halted for a complete computer-based inventory of all disease samples at the fort. That inventory is expected to be complete before summer and may help solve the mystery of the three missing vials, officials said.

The Army investigation is in its final stages and is expected to be closed soon.

[Lala]

http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/04/27/schumer-video-bragging-about-cutting-pandemic-fund-surfaces/

Chuckie Schumer brags about cutting pandemic funds.