Doc7505
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- Feb 16, 2016
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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.”
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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?
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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.
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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.