Posted on 10/04/2005 11:55:32 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican
WASHINGTON - President Bush, increasingly concerned about a possible avian flu pandemic, revealed Tuesday that any part of the country where the virus breaks out could likely be quarantined and that he is considering using the military to enforce it.
"The best way to deal with a pandemic is to isolate it and keep it isolated in the region in which it begins," he said during a wide-ranging Rose Garden news conference.
The president was asked if his recent talk of giving the military the lead in responding to large natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and other catastrophes was in part the result of his concerns that state and local personnel aren't up to the task of a flu outbreak.
"Yes," he replied.
After the bungled initial federal response to Katrina, Bush suggested putting the Pentagon in charge of search-and-rescue efforts in times of a major terrorist attack or similarly catastrophic natural disaster. He has argued that the armed forces have the ability to quickly mobilize the equipment, manpower and communications capabilities needed in times of crisis.
But such a shift could require a change in law, and some in Congress and the states worry it would increase the power of the federal government at the expense of local control.
Bush made clear that the potential for an outbreak of avian flu is much on his mind, and has had him talking with "as many (world) leaders as I could find," consulting a book he read over the summer on the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed 40 million and meeting with staff and experts.
"I have thought through the scenarios of what an avian flu outbreak could mean," he said.
He acknowledged that a quarantine — an idea sure to alarm many in the public — is no small thing for the government to undertake and that enforcing it would be tricky.
"It's one thing to shut down airplanes," Bush said. "It's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu."
He urged Congress to give him the ability to use the military, if needed.
"I think the president ought to have all ... assets on the table to be able to deal with something this significant," he said.
As a standby precaution, Bush in April signed an executive order that added pandemic influenza to the government's list of communicable diseases for which a quarantine is authorized. It gives the government legal authority to detain or isolate a passenger arriving in the United States to prevent an infection from spreading.
At the time the order was signed, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the Public Health Service would probably recommend home quarantines when possible, but said they would be voluntary. It's unclear whether the federal takeover of state and local quarantine powers that Bush discussed Tuesday would be limited just to travel or involve broader home quarantines as well.
Bush also said he has been urging world leaders to improve reporting on outbreaks of the virus, and exploring how to speed the production of a spray, now in limited supply, that "can maybe help arrest the spread of the disease."
"One of the issues is how do we encourage the manufacturing capacity of the country, and maybe the world, to be prepared to deal with the outbreak of a pandemic?" he said.
Yet it is the pill Tamiflu, which makes symptoms less severe and shortens the duration of the illness, that is in short supply — not its harder-to-use inhaled competitor Relenza.
Experts agree there will certainly be another flu pandemic — a new human flu strain that goes global. However, it is unknown when or how bad that global epidemic will be — or whether the H5N1 bird flu strain now circulating in Asian poultry will be its origin.
Just in case, experts are tracking the avian flu, which has swept through poultry populations in large swaths of Asia since 2003, jumped to humans and killed at least 65 people.
Most human cases have been linked to a contact with sick birds, but the World Health Organization has warned the virus could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans — changing it from a bird virus to a human pandemic flu strain.
Hmmmm. Tough questions. I have to admit, at this point I trust the military more than Congress.
This idea of having the military do everything is stupid and dangerous.
Of course, the primary reason they do it is that the military takes orders and they don't pay them nearly as much as civilians.
What about the epidemic of illegal immigrants?
"revealed Tuesday that any part of the country where the virus breaks out could likely be quarantined and that he is considering using the military to enforce it."
So don't criticize him or he'll send you a bad bucket of chicken and its over for your whole area.
I'm really having speechless moments of late.
Great retort.
I'm going to go and dig that hole now...there just doesn't seem like there's anything else to do..
Huh? His recent statements about Katrina were because of worries about a flu outbreak? This seems a really weird kind of question to me.
Hey, people complained about the poor response in New Orleans. Blamed the Feds for not responding quickly enough.
From now on, count on the Feds (military, etc.) to be there right away whether or not they are wanted or needed.
I figured that if something like this ever cut loose, they'd have to do something to organize a quarantine. But as far as I know, the use of the miliary (here) for this is rather unprecedented.
I keep a food supply on hand for emergencies (mostly I think of hurricanes) but also in case of a quarantine situation, for a biohazard or virus pandemic.
It has crossed my mind that if a flu pandemic would ever break out, they would probably try to use the concentric circle quarantine model, and would probably have at least the police (but no city really has a police force large enough) or the military/National Guard enforce it.
IMO, it is the only way to try to contain a true epidemic.
This is a bad idea the Posse Commitatus act exists for a reason ! The people of the United States are not particularly fond of the notion of politicians telling the army to go sieze an American city from the control of its elected leaders simply because the President says so. Changing this law is a very very bad idea.
See FR thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1495712/posts
Well, he does need to think about this too, for a number of reasons -- among them the public health issue of what kind of diseases are brought along with uncontrolled masses of third-world migrants.
consider the source. Are we so influenced by the lies of the old stream media?
Besides the bird flu, hurricanes, terrorism, there's also the danger of freedom breaking out which might require a military response. Incrementalist Federalist fascism. Why is Bush hell bent on leaving President Hillary with a renewed Patriot law and a greater authority to deploy the military in the States.
You mean you think the article is inaccurate, and Bush was misquoted?
Yes, you've got to wonder about that too.
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