Panning Pandemic Preparedness = Poor PR Planning

by folkbum

Your Republican Party has some 'splaining to do:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans. [. . .]

The attack on pandemic preparation became so central to the GOP strategies that AP reported in February: "Republicans, meanwhile, plan to push for broader and deeper tax cuts, to trim major spending provisions that support Democrats' longer-term policy goals, and to try to knock out what they consider questionable spending items, such as $870 million to combat the flu and $400 million to slow the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases."

Famously, Maine Senator Susan Collins, the supposedly moderate Republican who demanded cuts in health care spending in exchange for her support of a watered-down version of the stimulus, fumed about the pandemic funding: "Does it belong in this bill? Should we have $870 million in this bill No, we should not."

Even now, Collins continues to use her official website to highlight the fact that she led the fight to strip the pandemic preparedness money out of the Senate's version of the stimulus measure.

With luck and some hard work by public health officials (not to mention lots of hand washing--I want to see suds, people!), the current Swine Flu outbreak will not become pandemic, as 3rd Way fears it might. However, as John Nichols points out in the piece quoted above, the effect of precautions or recovery from an outbreak may well be to slow economic recovery in parts of the country--something that a boost in spending months ago might have prevented.

Swine Flu

by
3rd Way

I am not afraid to admit that I am a junky that needs a news fix at least once a day. As the banking crisis was unraveling my addiction got the best of me and I was up into the wee hours of the morning trying to understand as much as I could about financial obscurities.

The latest influenza scare has sent me on a new bender. I now know more than I probably should about genetic recombination and the 1918 pandemic. The most interesting things I have found about the current outbreak are this doctor's blog and his scary map that he keeps updating as cases are confirmed. And this page from the BBC which invited people in Mexico to e-mail descriptions of their experiences dealing with the outbreak.

People have e-mailed some pretty scary stuff to the BBC. It is somewhat surprising that a major media outlet like the BBC is willing to publish unconfirmed reports of fatalities more than double the "official" tally. If this situation continues to worsen it will be fascinating to see what role citizen journalists like this doctor and these anonymous e-mailers play in shaping public perception.

Coincidentally my sister, who holds an advanced degree in public health and has studied epidemiology, is currently in Mexico on vacation. If she has any interesting observations I will be sure to share them.