Everyone is panicking currently over H1N1 (aka Swine Flu). But the group leading the way in the “freak out” department is our Federal Government.
From the Washington Post:
President Obama has declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, clearing the way for his health chief to give hospitals wider leeway in how they handle a possible surge of new patients, administration officials said Saturday.
The president granted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the power to lift some federal regulations for medical providers, including allowing hospitals to set up off-site facilities to increase the number of available beds and protect patients who are not infected.
Excellent! Obama and Sebelius will save us. Cancel the “freak out.”
Anyone remember the way they handled “Cash for Clunkers?” Or, how about TARP? Oh, and what about the Simulus money distribution? This is definitely the most competent group of people to ward of H1N1.
Doug Mataconis at Below the Beltway said some good stuff in his coverage on this topic:
Of course, given some of what we’ve already seen, it’s hard to believe that the reactions could get any more hysterical than they’ve already gotten given the fact that, when you look at the numbers so far, H1N1 is far less contagious, and far less virulent than the worst-case scenarios we were hearing about in the summer were predicting.
It’s probably prudent for people in high risk groups to get vaccinated, but while I did get the seasonal flu vaccine I’m probably going to end up skipping this one unless there’s evidence that this is becoming a bigger deal than it appears to be right now.
Doug, thanks so much for taking the Flu vaccine. Now, I won’t have to!
(H/T WaPo and Below the Beltway)
