A 23-month old child in Texas is the first confirmed victim of the swine flu in the US. It’s too early to say how this will play out; if the number of suspected deaths in Mexico are really due to this strain of flu, then the case fatality rate is higher than that of the 1918 Spanish flu. However, it’s unknown if this strain is as communicable as the 1918 strain.
One question that I’ve not seen asked or answered: Why is the Department of Homeland Security taking the lead on America’s response to this? Why not Health and Human Services? Is it because DHS has more resources to enforce a mandatory involuntary quarantine?
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2 Responses
Hi, Derek.
It’s Chuck from Knox. The answer on DHS is pretty simple: The Republicans in Congress had held up the confirmation of Kathleen Sibelius until yesterday. There was no head of HHS because of the footdragging by the Repubs in Congress – putting partisan politics ahead of the public health. Kind of par for the course for them these days, unfortunately.
Posted on April 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hi, Chuck, how are you doing these days?
Actually, this has nothing to do with partisan politics (which is about as partisan as pro wrestling — yelling and posturing on camera and then out for drinks together after work). Homeland Security was designated as the lead agency for health emergencies under the Bush administration. It wouldn’t have mattered if Tom Daschle had been confirmed — Secretary Napolitano would still be in charge.
So the question stands: why has our government opted to put Homeland Security in charge of health crises instead of Health and Human Services? And the answer, I suspect, has to do with enforcing quarantines.
Posted on April 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
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