Posted on 10/24/2009 11:19:03 AM PDT by TennesseeGirl
President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic.
Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis.
"The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement.
In the proclamation, Obama said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there's a potential "to overburden health care resources."
Because of vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (excerpted)
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
For my money ~ or lack thereof ~ the economy is Obama’s Katrina.
Obama lied. Industry died!
IOWs "flu season has begun."
Being 55, if I get it, I guess I am on my own. Wonder if the doctors will be able to make an appointment with us older folks? (Only 1/2 kidding)
Seriously though, I am not sure why you are wondering whether you can get a doctor's appt. Aren't they treating us old codgers now? Personally I prefer to be on my own. I haven't had the flu in over 27 years, never had a flu shot and have learned of several ways to knock the stuffings out of the flu virus.
The last time I went to the doctor because I was sick was when I had pneumonia about 15 years ago. Like clockwork my fever would spike to 104 each day around 4 pm. The fever would go down after taking Tylenol. I would feel almost as good as new with a low grade fever (I never considered a 100 a fever) the next morning. It took me 4 days to decide to get to the doctor's office.
An interesting study would be an examination of the medical records of children who have had documented H1N1 to see how many were prescribed antibiotics in the past “just in case.” My hunch is that many of these kids have not developed a strong immune system (not talking about the high risk kids).
I hadn’t thought of that but it is an interesting idea. No one should be prescribed antibiotics for the cold or flu, unless they acquire a secondary infection, but the fact is that it does happen. Parents often pressure physicians into giving their children a “just in case” shot.
We’re dooooooooooooooooooooooooomed!
Oh noze!
Run for your lives!
Has anybody actually bothered with an H5N1 vaccine. That would be the thing to have, healthy or not. The H1N1 vaccine sounds good, on the other hand, for young or unhealthy people (diabetic, HIV-positive, and so on) or people with young children, elderly relatives, unhealthy relatives, etc.
I only know of ONE family that has gotten the swine flu and it only hit the children for about three days and the parents for about two.
According to our friends, it was FAR milder than the regular flu that goes around this time of year.
I will NEVER get ANY vaccination for ANYTHING the government says I should.
I will take my chances on my own.
After all, this is still a free country right? Right????
If you say so...
I’d be really curious to see if the folks (incl. children)— that were “perfectly healthy before”— have something else going on in their system besides H1N1. I’d be willing to bet that while they are weakened by the flu, there is a undetected (unreported?) staph or strep or c-diff infection involved. There is something else that is weakening/killing some, but not all.
Please excuse the off-topic post in #54 guys. I wrote it off line and posted it in the wrong thread. Sorry. LOL
I am mystified at how Obama can declare a state of emergency when no one knows how many documented cases of flu there are since they are not testing and not all respiratory infections are caused by an influenza virus.
It is almost as if they are saying “you have these symptoms, it is not the time for seasonal flu, therefore you have must have the swine flu.” Not a very good way to operate considering the mixed messages sent out over the past month.
RIGHT. WE ARE TOLD ABOUT 30,000 PEOPLE DIE ANNUALLY FROM THE FLU IN THE US.
THEY DON’T MENTION THE TOTAL STATS FOR THIS YEAR. IT WOULD BE REVEALING TO SEE HOW THEY COMPARE TO OTHER YEARS.
IF CURRENT POLLING HOLDS UP WE WILL PROBABLY BE TOLD THAT UNDER THE STATE OF EMERGENCY THE ELECTIONS IN NJ AND VA HAVE TO BE CANCELED BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF PEOPLE CONGREGATING AT POLLING PLACES.
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