US News Obama declares swine flu a national emergency

[The Helper]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients.

The declaration, signed Friday night and announced Saturday, comes with the disease more prevalent than ever in the country and production delays undercutting the government's initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses of the vaccine could be available by mid-October.

Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the flu, known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far only 11 million doses have gone out to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

Administration officials said the declaration was a pre-emptive move designed to make decisions easier when they need to be made. Officials said the move was not in response to any single development

More http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091024/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_swine_flu.

---------------------------------
I know of nobody with Swine flu at this time. Seems like the vaccine makers and the Tamiflu people are really cashing in on this stuff.... From what I hear it takes about a month for them to find out if a flu is the swine flu but doctors prescribe the swine stuff for any flu just in case. Whateva!

 

[DBZ-123]

This is bad.

 

[The Helper]

This is bad.

Yes its bad but why do you think its bad?

 

[T.s.e]

In Norway, our vaccines are ridden with mercury and are so inefficient that you need to take two of them.

It's just ridiculous.

 

[sqrage]

Screw the vaccine, it's useless. Swine Flu is not even close to a national emergency... might as well call the normal flu a (permanent) nation emergency too. It's a part of life, no biggy.

 

[Whitesock]

It's not as bad as the regular flu either. I had it and it only really affected me for four days. It usually rolls into a bronchitis though (which I probably misspelled) which lasts about two weeks after the fact sadly.

 

[sqrage]

It's not as bad as the regular flu either. I had it and it only really affected me for four days. It usually rolls into a bronchitis though (which I probably misspelled) which lasts about two weeks after the fact sadly.

I may have had it too, because I was sick last week and I've been having a phlegmy cough since then.

 

[Snowbizzle]

Funny, I was just diagnosed with the flu this morning. They're treating almost all cases of the flu as if it were swine flu. Want me to tell you why this is a national emergency?

Anytime a virus, which the flu is, mutates, it spells bad news. Let's step outside of reality for a moment. Ever see the movie 28 Days Later or 28 Weeks Later? They originally found a cure for the virus that was plaguing the UK, only to discover that the cure actually caused the virus to mutate further. When viruses -- which we can't REALLY destroy in the first place -- change and take on MORE harmful properties that we don't know about and can't combat, it spells disaster.

H1N1 is dangerous, particularly for people who already have health problems, because it's slightly different from the flu that we're used to dealing with. For instance, I have asthma. I walked out of the doctor's office with six different prescriptions. It's dangerous because I could feel like crap all day, and have the normal flu symptoms, but then, out of nowhere, in a span of 5-10 minutes, I might stop breathing completely. This is seriously what happens...you're fine, and 10 minutes later, you're dead.

Nothing to take lightly.

 

[Narks]

deadly strain wouldn't get far

 

[Whitesock]

The only thing I see that makes this flu worse than the yearly flu that runs around is that it spreads easier, but other than that everything about it is toned down from the normal flu. Even if you do have asthma, the normal flu would also cause you problems.

 

[FireCat]

The only thing I see that makes this flu worse than the yearly flu that runs around is that it spreads easier, but other than that everything about it is toned down from the normal flu. Even if you do have asthma, the normal flu would also cause you problems.

QFT,I agree on that point.

 

[ReVolver]

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=swine_flu