Remember the H1N1 Pandemic? I Don’t Either

[Doc7505]

Remember the H1N1 Pandemic? I Don’t Either​

https://www.americanthinker.com/arti...nt_either.html
March 16, 2020 ~~ By Brian C.Joondeph, MD
America is in the grips of a panic the likes of which we haven’t seen before. What exactly is a pandemic, other than a scary sounding word from science fiction movies? According to WHO, “Pandemic refers to an epidemic that has spread over several countries or continents, usually affecting a large number of people.”
~~ snip ~~
Wuhan virus is not the first viral pandemic America has had to contend with. The last one was the H1N1 virus from 2009. How did America react to that last pandemic 10 years ago? Does anyone have more than a vague recollection of H1N1, also known as swine flu? No one will forget this current panic, but most have forgotten H1N1.
During the swine flu pandemic, were there mass cancellations of events including conferences, concerts, sporting events, and entire professional sports leagues? Did colleges cancel classes, finishing the remainder of their semesters online? Were travel restrictions imposed between America and Europe? Were panicked Americans hoarding everything from toilet paper to pasta?
~~ snip ~~
If these things happened during the swine flu pandemic, I certainly have no recollection. In 2009, congressional Democrat leaders weren’t criticizing the president, instead they were trying to force through a government takeover of healthcare, known as Obama-Care. Criticizing its namesake wasn’t in the media’s playbook and they all but ignored the swine flu.
What a difference a decade and a president makes.
~~ snip ~~
How did the media react in 2009? The NY Times praised Obama’s leadership. From a May 1, 2009 article,
A week after his administration first received word about a deadly flu spreading across Mexico, President Obama convened his cabinet on Friday and instructed every agency to play a role in preparing the United States for a pandemic.
The president’s comments came at the end of a week long balancing act in which his public words and actions were carefully measured to summon a sense of urgency without setting off a panic. It was no coincidence, his aides said, that he played golf the day his administration declared a national emergency.
Imagine if Trump played golf last week. I’m sure the media would just mention it in passing as an example of President Trump trying to avoid setting off a panic.
Otherwise the two presidents did much the same, convening their cabinets, creating a game plan, and insisting on interagency cooperation. Was media reaction the same? Hardly.
Good luck finding a description of Trump’s response to coronavirus from any newspaper or cable news show comparable to how they reported on Obama as he faced the swine flu pandemic. What a difference a president makes.
Swine flu came and went, leaving a far greater swath of destruction compared to the current coronavirus outbreak. The economic and societal disruption from the reaction to coronavirus is likely to be far worse to whatever damage the virus does. Yet the reactions are far different, flames of panic stoked by the media. Most don’t remember the swine flu pandemic but will certainly remember the current chaos.
What’s the difference? The occupant of the White House and an upcoming election. And ponder this timing. The WHO declared coronavirus a global health emergency within a week of President Trump’s impeachment acquittal in the Senate. Do you believe in coincidences?



Comment:
Anyone who is cogent with a memory that reaches back to 2009 would agree with Dr. Joondeph. The fact is that the Obama administration with the cooperating media downplayed the infectious virus until over one hundred fifty of thousand were infected and more than 5,000 died of the illness.
It will be a cold day in hell before those Communists apologize for their carelessness in allowing researchers to sell infected animals to be used in food or admit they created this thing as a bio weapon that got out of the lab. They will neither apologize for their complicity (which being the born liars they are have tried to pin blame on the US) or offer any sort of compensation to victims or countries that have been victimized by their stupidity. Tell me again why we have any kind of relationship with these people?
IMHO, if Trump were not in office, the American people would be as ignorant about the Wuhan Covid-19 as they were about H1N1. Swine flu.
We have, right now, a one in a million death rate from Wuhan Covid-19 and we are shutting down our society. We should be embarrassed that we can be panicked so easily. We didn't even panic buying during the Cuban missile crisis and those were nukes pointed at us. We've become a nation of Snowflakes triggered our own shadows.
The most terrifying aspect of this mass hysteria is the willingness for people to give up their freedoms and security to politicians that will take the opportunity to keep their controls.

 

[wamose]

Nobody remembers that because the media didn't obsess on it. As long as our great President, Trumpy, is in charge, the media will obsess on how he is responsible for the pandemic. How effed up is that?

 

[Ame®icano]

Only those who are trying to slip it under the rug don't remember it.

How can you forget that 12,400 Americans died from it?

Thank you President Barry.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

I remember it. I don't remember people going this crazy over it though.

God bless you and those who lost someone from the sickness always!!!

Holly

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Only those who are trying to slip it under the rug don't remember it.

How can you forget that 12,400 Americans died from it?

Thank you President Barry.

CDC has reported the number is higher

 

[JoeB131]

Only those who are trying to slip it under the rug don't remember it.

How can you forget that 12,400 Americans died from it?

Thank you President Barry.

Well, most of us had bigger worries, like the complete economic collapse Bush had given us.

But there are major differences. The first is that we had vaccines and treatments for flu. Most of those who died either didn't seek treatment or didn't get vaccinations or were already in comprimised health.

The second was that Obama actually DID act decisively. The obsession is that he didn't declare a "national emergency" when it started.

What Trump Is Getting Wrong About Obama’s Response to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic

But who can resist comparing Obama and Trump? Let’s take a look at where Obama succeeded and where he failed. In short: Even with all the medical differences in diagnosis and management, the claim that the 2009 response was inadequate and led to excess deaths is a gross exaggeration.

During and after the pandemic, many claimed that Obama was ginning up the threat, talking about it too much, scaring people too much, being the Nanny State nightmare libertarians had had warned us against. Likely, they said, the faux-crisis was really about developing more support for the Affordable Care Act, not yet voted upon in Congress but looming menacingly on the cold horizon. At the time, I wrote an evaluation of the government response in the Daily Beast, mostly criticizing Washington overreach into a bad but routine crisis best handled by CDC experts, not politicians. In other words, I thought Obama was too responsive. (Ah, the good old days … )

More recently, Justin Fox at Bloomberg Opinion wrote a thorough comparison of the Obama and Trump responses. He looked in particular at one popular criticism made by Trump supporters about the timing of Obama’s declaration of “a national emergency.” The facts are that Obama declared a “public health emergency” a few weeks after the first cases in the U.S. This focused public attention and resources on the outbreak. In October, six months later, he declared “a national emergency.” Indeed, there are some subtle differences between the two federal responses, but for doctors and patients and human health, these bureaucratic distinctions are irrelevant.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Obama's Kenyan birth better prepared him to deal with the panDEMic

 

[sparky]

We should be embarrassed that we can be panicked so easily. We didn't even panic buying during the Cuban missile crisis and those were nukes pointed at us. We've become a nation of Snowflakes triggered our own shadows.

~S~

 

[candycorn]

I remember it. I don't remember people going this crazy over it though.

God bless you and those who lost someone from the sickness always!!!

Holly

Well, you had the feeling someone responsible and mature was in charge. Trump--the lying whoremonger who won't take responsibility--doesn't know what he is doing. As was indicted when the CDC said to socially distance yourself and then the FAA put thousands of Americans shoulder to shoulder for hours on end.

A major error.

 

[sparky]

Can We Trust Trump With Emergency Powers?

~S~

 

[harmonica]

I remember it. I don't remember people going this crazy over it though.

God bless you and those who lost someone from the sickness always!!!

Holly

Well, you had the feeling someone responsible and mature was in charge. Trump--the lying whoremonger who won't take responsibility--doesn't know what he is doing. As was indicted when the CDC said to socially distance yourself and then the FAA put thousands of Americans shoulder to shoulder for hours on end.

A major error.

you are the liar

 

[SweetSue92]

We should be embarrassed that we can be panicked so easily. We didn't even panic buying during the Cuban missile crisis and those were nukes pointed at us. We've become a nation of Snowflakes triggered our own shadows.

~S~

Its shameful how easily we panic and what a pathetic lot of sheep we are. I'm shamed by it, and embarrassed for us.

But what else does anyone expect? Our fundamental value is "safety". Everyone needs and longs and wants to be "safe". Your safety, our safety, my safety. For goodness sake, when did safety become our highest value?

What an absolute pathetic lot of weenies we are, fighting over toilet paper, calling 911 when it's out (!) hiding in our houses because we might get a fever. Again. Shameful.

 

[sparky]

We should be embarrassed that we can be panicked so easily. We didn't even panic buying during the Cuban missile crisis and those were nukes pointed at us. We've become a nation of Snowflakes triggered our own shadows.

~S~

Its shameful how easily we panic and what a pathetic lot of sheep we are. I'm shamed by it, and embarrassed for us.

But what else does anyone expect? Our fundamental value is "safety". Everyone needs and longs and wants to be "safe". Your safety, our safety, my safety. For goodness sake, when did safety become our highest value?

What an absolute pathetic lot of weenies we are, fighting over toilet paper, calling 911 when it's out (!) hiding in our houses because we might get a fever. Again. Shameful.

I joined ems because as a child i suffered a near death experience

two emt's appeared , and made things look up for me

it made quite the impression, they were my hero's, and i wanted to be like them

and you know the ONE quality i admired the most?

they kept their heads , they didn't panic, even when EVERYONE else was

POINT?

we need that sort of leadership right now, we need to realize hiding in our rabbit holes for months? may result in an economy in shambles when we crawl out

~S~

 

[SweetSue92]

We should be embarrassed that we can be panicked so easily. We didn't even panic buying during the Cuban missile crisis and those were nukes pointed at us. We've become a nation of Snowflakes triggered our own shadows.

~S~

Its shameful how easily we panic and what a pathetic lot of sheep we are. I'm shamed by it, and embarrassed for us.

But what else does anyone expect? Our fundamental value is "safety". Everyone needs and longs and wants to be "safe". Your safety, our safety, my safety. For goodness sake, when did safety become our highest value?

What an absolute pathetic lot of weenies we are, fighting over toilet paper, calling 911 when it's out (!) hiding in our houses because we might get a fever. Again. Shameful.

I joined ems because as a child i suffered a near death experience

two emt's appeared , and made things look up for me

it made quite the impression, they were my hero's, and i wanted to be like them

and you know the ONE quality i admired the most?

they kept their heads , they didn't panic, even when EVERYONE else was

POINT?

we need that sort of leadership right now, we need to realize hiding in our rabbit holes for months? may result in an economy in shambles when we crawl out

~S~

Excellent points but most especially your last one. The economy is going to crash, and no one has weighed this out against the cost of whatever we're going to gain at the ERs.

I bring up, okay, over 100 people die every day on the the US roads in car accidents. And yet, we have not stopped all vehicle travel. No one has said, no car travel because people are dying. Why not? Why do we accept 100 traffic fatalities every single day but we must bring our economy to a screeching halt over this?

No answer to that. People just blubber and stammer. "Well it's not the same". Why not?

People are dumb and are sheep and it's so frustrating

 

[JoeB131]

Its shameful how easily we panic and what a pathetic lot of sheep we are. I'm shamed by it, and embarrassed for us.

But what else does anyone expect? Our fundamental value is "safety". Everyone needs and longs and wants to be "safe". Your safety, our safety, my safety. For goodness sake, when did safety become our highest value?

What an absolute pathetic lot of weenies we are, fighting over toilet paper, calling 911 when it's out (!) hiding in our houses because we might get a fever. Again. Shameful.

SourSue is upset because she'll be at home for the next few weeks.

Uh, safety is kind of important. Are there a lot of stupid things happening right now? Yup. But then again, we have stupid leadership, so stupid people fighting over toilet paper or stocking up on bottled water because they think the faucets will stop working isn't surprising. It's what happens when you all believe in talking snakes.

 

[SweetSue92]

Its shameful how easily we panic and what a pathetic lot of sheep we are. I'm shamed by it, and embarrassed for us.

But what else does anyone expect? Our fundamental value is "safety". Everyone needs and longs and wants to be "safe". Your safety, our safety, my safety. For goodness sake, when did safety become our highest value?

What an absolute pathetic lot of weenies we are, fighting over toilet paper, calling 911 when it's out (!) hiding in our houses because we might get a fever. Again. Shameful.

SourSue is upset because she'll be at home for the next few weeks.

Uh, safety is kind of important. Are there a lot of stupid things happening right now? Yup. But then again, we have stupid leadership, so stupid people fighting over toilet paper or stocking up on bottled water because they think the faucets will stop working isn't surprising. It's what happens when you all believe in talking snakes.

Right, I like my job, and I like working.

If you're the fearful type, that's your personal problem. It's not mine

 

[JoeB131]

Excellent points but most especially your last one. The economy is going to crash, and no one has weighed this out against the cost of whatever we're going to gain at the ERs.

I bring up, okay, over 100 people die every day on the the US roads in car accidents. And yet, we have not stopped all vehicle travel. No one has said, no car travel because people are dying. Why not? Why do we accept 100 traffic fatalities every single day but we must bring our economy to a screeching halt over this?

No answer to that. People just blubber and stammer. "Well it's not the same". Why not?

People are dumb and are sheep and it's so frustrating

It's not the same because of probability.

Covid 19 (Trump's Katrina) has a fatality rate of 2%. Or to put it in proper terms, we have 274 MILLION motor vehicles on the road. if traffic accidents happened at the same rate of Covid 19 deaths, we would have 5 million traffic deaths.

Yes, this would be an emergency.

Of course, it would be nice if Trump hadn't disbanded the Pandemic Response Team, slashed health spending for poor people, etc. That will probably make Covid 19 (Trump's Katrina) worse.

 

[sparky]

The economy is going to crash, and no one has weighed this out against the cost of whatever we're going to gain at the ERs.

Our economy is cyclical, so a pandemic would merely be a catalyst for a downturn

But the ER's ,as well as the entire HC system was never set up for anything more than a certain 'patient flow'

Fact is, on good ski weekends (i live in skibunnyville) the broken ankles alone were out in the hallways....

This is the real reason for the NG, mash units....etc etc...

No answer to that. People just blubber and stammer. "Well it's not the same". Why not?

fear.....

fear of the unknown

~S~

 

[JoeB131]

Right, I like my job, and I like working.

If you're the fearful type, that's your personal problem. It's not mine

I like working, too.

I also like "not dying".

 

[PredFan]

The left wing losers LOVE to say trump screwed it up or doesn't know what he's doing but they never have any facts. You ask them how trump screwed up and they ujsually tyell the two lies about how Trump fired the man in charge at the CDC or that he took money from the CDC.

The fact is that Trump acted immediately and decisively by stopping travel from China and we even called racist and xenophobic for doing so. Trump has acted competently and appropriately, and this who pandemic is blown way out of proportion by the desperate, corrupt, and soulless left and their media.