Swine Flu outbreak

reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53R5OF20090428

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on
Tuesday declared a "state of emergency" for the state over an outbreak
of the swine flu that has killed 149 people in Mexico.

Schwarzenegger's proclamation allows the state to deploy additional
resources to the Department of Public Health and more quickly and easily
purchase equipment and materials."

My first post, hehe.

A few questions:

Is state of emergency the same as Martial Law? (according to wiki & some danish newspapers it is)

Is the Governor overreacting when he declares a state of emergency over this?

Why is California the only place a state of emergency has been declared?

Are the other states not preparing?
 
JHawke said:
reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE53R5OF20090428

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on
Tuesday declared a "state of emergency" for the state over an outbreak
of the swine flu that has killed 149 people in Mexico.

Schwarzenegger's proclamation allows the state to deploy additional
resources to the Department of Public Health and more quickly and easily
purchase equipment and materials."

My first post, hehe.

A few questions:

Is state of emergency the same as Martial Law? (according to wiki & some danish newspapers it is)

Is the Governor overreacting when he declares a state of emergency over this?

Why is California the only place a state of emergency has been declared?

Are the other states not preparing?
Click to expand...



This is the first step in the machines' bid to conquer the world.
 
FSM said:
This just came out tonight from my daughter's school:

It is the recommendation of the Comal County Health Department that Comal ISD close all of its schools beginning Wednesday, April 29th until Monday, May 11. The New Braunfels ISD also is closing all of its schools for that time period.
Click to expand...


This is terrible.

It won't stop the spread, and it's a negative impact on the economy, which will get doubled up, because as soon as class starts again, the 'flu will whip through the kids and give it to their families.

Whoever thought that up has lost touch with reality.
 
And also, several days of having to watch Hannah Montana.

OH, the humanity.
 
Remember when you asked if that hot girl would ever sleep with you? Or if you could borrow your sister's car? Or if you could have a promotion at work?

Remember that mocking condescending face that was levelled at you, as they arrogantly declared "If pigs flew!"

Well.

I bet their faces are red.

It's pay day, my friends.
 
gumboot said:
This is the first step in the machines' bid to conquer the world.
Click to expand...

lol, no.

I understand the governors decision "allows the state to deploy additional resources the Department of Public Health and more quickly and easily purchase equipment and materials."

But why is this necessary? Other states didn't do it.
Denmark had plenty of Tamiflu even before the outbreak started.
(And we never really used flu shots over here)

Is it because California has no stockpile of Tamiflu ready?

And I still don't know if "state of emergency" is the same as Martial Law..?
 
JHawke said:
"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on
Tuesday declared a "state of emergency" for the state over an outbreak
of the swine flu that has killed 149 people in Mexico.
Click to expand...


Fancy Arnie being wrong...

JHawke said:
My first post, hehe.

A few questions:

Is state of emergency the same as Martial Law? (according to wiki & some danish newspapers it is)

Is the Governor overreacting when he declares a state of emergency over this?

Why is California the only place a state of emergency has been declared?

Are the other states not preparing?
Click to expand...

In order:

Don't know

Yes

The governor is an imbecile who got voted in because he's a popular actor.

Others will follow.

FSM said:
And also, several days of having to watch Hannah Montana.

OH, the humanity.
Click to expand...

Oh man, that's cruel and unusual punishment. Just think - you'll get to do it all again when they get the 'flu!

Edit - & welcome along!

You should go post in the welcome thread at the top of the main page so people can put you through the Skeptic Hazing CeremonyTM. (Wear your galoshes!)
 
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skeptigirl said:
Sorry, Ron Paul is full of it. I didn't have time to hear the other video of 9 minutes of news. Halfway through it sounded like the same news being heard elsewhere.

As for Paul, to claim the government shouldn't be involved... So is he saying we should disband the public health system? He needs to travel to a few countries where the government is not involved in public health.

The 1976 flu vaccine could have gone either way and the decision made at the time was made on the best information available. Paul's opinion is like saying science based medicine is a failure because 30 years ago they were still taking tonsils out.

Then he goes on to say TB is worse. Sure, because the annual death rate around the world is high every year. That is reason to fund more public health, not evidence we should only fund the worst of it.

The man should be ashamed to call himself a doctor.
Click to expand...

First, Ron said (or indiciated) that the vaccine was made quickly, therefore there could have been mistakes made. The process to make vaccines must be done correctly or they do not work. He never said anything about science based medicine being a failure. He is talking about the government actions lead to something akin to overreacting and it is the government that failed. Boy, you sure go for a knee jerk reaction.

What about the first video, as far as I know was informing people, the news I see here seems to be scare tatics more then anything. This is from the BBC. About 7 minutes in, they talk about all the cases in other parts of the world the flu is mild. Only in Mexico it is not mild, they also talk about that the people who are dieing is under the age of 45.
I am reposting the video.

 
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That last one was me, TA and you welcomed me real good about 2 years ago. :)


ETA: That sounded dirty, but really wasn't intended to be...
 
Last edited:
The Atheist said:
Fancy Arnie being wrong...

In order:

Don't know

Yes

The governor is an imbecile who got voted in because he's a popular actor.

Others will follow.

[....]

Edit - & welcome along!

You should go post in the welcome thread at the top of the main page so people can put you through the Skeptic Hazing CeremonyTM. (Wear your galoshes!)
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will :)

Thank you for answering my questions.

It looks like we can agree on this subject.

IMO it's stupid to declare a state of emergency in California over a flu that kills 1 out of 10(worst case scenario!), and can be treated with Tamiflu.

I hope you're going to be wrong about other states following his example, though.

This is only going to create more panick and cause the airline/travel business to loose more money.

"The governor is an imbecile who got voted in because he's a popular actor."

I wouldn't have put it like that, but I agree ;)
 
For what it's worth, a State of Emergency and Martial Law are not the same thing. Declaring a State of Emergency gives the government the authority to activate a certain sequence of measures that otherwise they wouldn't be able to activate. Martial Law would be only one potential measure, and I would expect it would be far, far along the sequence.
 
gumboot said:
For what it's worth, a State of Emergency and Martial Law are not the same thing. Declaring a State of Emergency gives the government the authority to activate a certain sequence of measures that otherwise they wouldn't be able to activate. Martial Law would be only one potential measure, and I would expect it would be far, far along the sequence.
Click to expand...

Okay, thank you for explaining it to me :)
 
JHawke said:
lol, no.

I understand the governors decision "allows the state to deploy additional resources the Department of Public Health and more quickly and easily purchase equipment and materials."

But why is this necessary? Other states didn't do it.
Click to expand...

California has a larger population (36 million people) with much more contact with Mexico than most other states.

JHawke said:
Denmark had plenty of Tamiflu even before the outbreak started.
(And we never really used flu shots over here)

Is it because California has no stockpile of Tamiflu ready?
Click to expand...

California has a stockpile of Tamiflu as does the Federal Government. I'm not sure of the exact size of California's stockpile (it was at least enough to treat 2.7 million people as of last September) but the US Federal government has enough to treat 50 million people right now though they were in the process of acquiring enough to treat 75 million people.

JHawke said:
And I still don't know if "state of emergency" is the same as Martial Law..?
Click to expand...

A state of emergency allows the Governor to mobilize the state National Guard amongst other things but it does not mean the military is acting as a police force as it would under martial law.
 
FSM said:
Thank you skeptigirl for your information. I really appreciate it.

This just came out tonight from my daughter's school:

It is the recommendation of the Comal County Health Department that Comal ISD close all of its schools beginning Wednesday, April 29th until Monday, May 11. The New Braunfels ISD also is closing all of its schools for that time period.

There are at least three highly probable cases of swine flu in Comal County. Other cases are pending. So, out of an abundance of caution and because our school district needs to do its part to help stop the spread of infection, we are complying with the Comal County Health Department recommendation immediately.
<snippage>

Could you give me your opinion about what the risk is in my area particularly in light of the bold/italic part that I empasized above? I am not prone to panic, having been through several hurricanes :( so the information you give me will just be used to make sensible decisions about what sort of contact I should feel comfortable having with people.

Have I told any of you lately how nice it is to be able to have an internet hang out where you can just casually use and abuse some of the best minds in the world?
Click to expand...


I can't say for your area, but here in SoCal, a probable case is one that has symptoms consistent with the outbreak, and has tested positive for Influenza A, but hasn't been confirmed by the state lab as the particular virus.
 
The State of Emergency allows the Guvanator to deploy some state resources without going through a lot of red tape and frees some funds that are reserved for emergencies.
He also declared states of emergency during the wildfires in SoCal last year for the same reasons.


The governor is an imbecile who got voted in because he's a popular actor.
Click to expand...

Thanks for displaying your ignorance of California politics. You are entitled to have a low opinion of Arnie as a governor, but to say he was elected just because he is an actor is pretty insulting to California voters.
And I think your pooh poohing of the Swine Flu situation as something that is just mass hysteria is as bad as those who are acting like The Black Death has come again.
I am beginning to understand why The Athiest has a certain reputation around JREF.
 
JHawke said:
IMO it's stupid to declare a state of emergency in California over a flu that kills 1 out of 10(worst case scenario!), and can be treated with Tamiflu.
Click to expand...

Just one point here - a flu that killed 10% of the population would not just be a disaster, it would almost be the end of civilisation as we know it.

If 10%, the rest are going to be extremely sick and no infrastructure could cope, resulting in billions of deaths from disease and starvation afterwards. Never mind the banking crisis, commerce would cease.

A really disturbing pandemic would be one with a death rate over 1%.
 
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