Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Laidback Al · Oct 2, 2013

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Yesterday congressional representatives allowed the government of United States of America (US) to shut down by not passing a budget or continuing resolution. One of the agencies that has been affected by this shutdown is a Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC is the US federal agency that is charged with protecting US citizens from communicable diseases and other health crises, especially pandemic outbreaks.

There could not be a worse time to shut down the CDC. We are now starting the annual influenza season. Two novel diseases, influenza A(H7N9) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), have flared up respectively in the People?s Republic of China and varies countries in the Middle East. Both of these novel diseases have a high case fatality rate and have the potential to become a worldwide pandemic. In addition, influenza A(H5N1) continues to be a pandemic threat as well.

This is not the time for a national public health service like the CDC to have its disease monitoring and surveillance activities curtailed.

A handful of congressional representatives trying to thwart the Affordable Care Act have allowed the government to shut down. They seem to have little concern about trying to protect the US population from a severe pandemic outbreak that could be socially and economically devastating. By shutting down the government, these congressional members have undermined the CDC?s ability to track and monitor disease outbreaks that could affect the entire US population, not just a few members of congress in Washington DC.

In the event of such a disease outbreak, citizens in the US would benefit from widely available insurance programs, such as those accessible under the Affordable Care Act. Ironically, the Affordable Care Act that provides such insurance access is the very legislation some congressional representatives are trying to stifle.
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Pathfinder · Oct 3, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Public Health Put at Risk by Government Shutdown

(Oct. 3, 2013) Arlington, VA ? With the federal government shutdown and federal public health workers deemed ?non-essential,? U.S. public health has been compromised at a time when we are facing numerous disease outbreaks, a hurricane watch, and a host of other new and emerging threats, such as MERS coronavirus and H7N9. The shutdown has also placed 9 million women and children at risk because WIC funding has stopped.

?This is the ticking time bomb scenario. The public health enterprise needs all components?federal, state, and local?to be functioning optimally to safeguard the American public,? says ASTHO Executive Director Paul E. Jarris, MD, MBA. ?We never know when the next severe public health emergency will strike. If it occurs when federal public health agencies are operating at minimal capacity, the consequences in American lives will be dire.?

CDC has furloughed more than 65 percent of its workforce and is unable to conduct in-depth disease outbreak investigations during the shutdown. States rely on CDC to help identify outbreaks, particularly ones that cross state lines.

?CDC had to furlough 8,754 people,? CDC Director Thomas Frienden wrote on Twitter on Oct. 1. ?They protected you yesterday, can't tomorrow. Microbes/other threats didn't shut down. We are less safe.?

Public health learned a year ago how important rapid identification is when the multistate fungal meningitis outbreak occurred. Working together, the U.S. public health system saved hundreds if not thousands of lives as the source of the contamination was identified, potentially tainted product was pulled, and those potentially exposed were contacted and began treatment regimens as soon symptoms occurred.

Nine million of our most vulnerable pregnant women and infants will lose access to nutritious food and health services as states quickly draw down and deplete the funding they have available. As a result of the shutdown, no additional WIC funding will be available.

Preparedness for natural and manmade disasters has also been put at risk during the shutdown. A hurricane is developing in the Gulf of Mexico and could reach land anywhere from Louisiana to Florida. However, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response can only maintain minimal readiness and limited staffing, so states and localities will have to respond to disasters with diminished federal capabilities.

America?s food is less safe now than it was before the shutdown. Food inspection for meat, poultry, and eggs continues during the shutdown, but FDA has halted inspections and oversight of the rest of the food in the supply chain ? food that can still result in foodborne disease outbreaks. Two years ago, listeria linked to cantaloupes killed 33 people. Without routine inspections, such outbreaks could increase, and, as already stated, CDC?s ability to identify and trace them would be compromised.

In addition to these direct impacts, state and federal public health agencies are usually in constant contact with each other, and the federal shutdown is having a negative impact on the health and wellness of Americans.

* * *

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in state-based public health practice.

.
.http://www.astho.org/Press-Room/Public-Health-Put-at-Risk-by-Government-Shutdown/10-3-13/

sharon sanders · Oct 8, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

The CDC and HHS have maintained an online presence for disease tracking. I know this because I have seen them on our site meter. Thanks!

Today the CDC called in most of their food safety group.

They have apparently re-activated their HAN/COCA alert system.

Laidback Al · Oct 9, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

sharon sanders said:
The CDC and HHS have maintained an online presence for disease tracking. I know this because I have seen them on our site meter. . . .

While it is gratifying that USA government officials continue to monitor FluTrackers, they probably will not be providing real time surveillance and status reports on influenza infections across the country. And there is no certainty that they will be providing direction and guidance to local health official and the general population in event of a novel disease outbreak stemming from influenza H5N1 or H7N9 or coronavirus infections from returning Hajj pilgrims.

sharon sanders · Oct 9, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Sure, the situation is less than optimal.

The entire situation is outrageous.

sharon sanders · Oct 10, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

"Notice to Readers: MMWR publications during the lapse in government funding
Weekly
October 11, 2013 / 62(40);819-819

Because of the current lapse in government funding, MMWR is able to publish and distribute only reports on immediate health threats."

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6240a2.htm?s_cid=mm6240a2_e

Pathfinder · Oct 11, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Threatwatch: Disease may run amok while the CDC sleeps

22:41 10 October 2013 by Debora MacKenzie
....
Obviously, this makes less difference if you live outside the US, but the uniquely global reach of the CDC affects us all in some ways. Even in the US, the effect may be subtle, because state governments have primary responsibility for public health. But they have always needed the CDC to marshal them in the face of any threat that crosses state lines ? and sometimes even those that don't.

Salmonella outbreak
That became clear earlier this week when CDC had to call back 10 of the people who run PulseNet, a computerised system for genetically tracking germs carried on food. US agriculture inspectors ? deemed too important to furlough ? had announced that chicken producers in California were the probable source of an outbreak of Salmonella that the CDC had been tracking since March, which has sickened 278 people in 18 states.

The affected states were tracking their own strains. But the PulseNet platform allowed the CDC to put the data together, and find that four of the seven strains of bacteria in the outbreak are novel, many have multiple resistance to antibiotics, and all came from chicken plants in California that have spread some of these bacteria before.
...
Tuberculosis cluster
James Wilson of Ascel Bio, an epidemiological consulting firm in Denver, Colorado, believes the CDC should focus its limited resource on the tuberculosis cluster left by a Nevada woman who died, along with her twin babies, of the infection in July.

Of 200 people who had contact with the woman and have been tested, 26 were infected. Nevada state officials had asked the CDC for help testing 140 babies who shared intensive care with the twins, says Wilson. But because of the shutdown, that is now on hold.
...
Full text:
http://www.newscientist.com/article...isease-may-run-amok-while-the-cdc-sleeps.html

Pathfinder · Oct 13, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

What If a Flu Breaks Out When CDC Can?t Track It

By David Satcher Oct 13, 2013 10:00 AM CT
...
As a consequence of the current shutdown, the CDC has been required to furlough two-thirds of its staff, leaving only 4,000 people to conduct vital public-health responsibilities. This translates into reduced protection for Americans. Here are just a few examples:

-- Surveillance for detecting and responding to infectious diseases is weakened: Nine of the 10 Global Disease Detection Centers have significantly reduced monitoring for diseases such as Ebola and new pathogens such as Middle East respiratory syndrome and H7N9, which could threaten the U.S.

-- CDC doesn?t have the personnel to monitor, track and provide guidance about seasonal flu activity, even as the season is beginning. The virus claims thousands of lives in the U.S. every year, and that?s when the CDC is fully staffed.
...
The most critical danger, however, could be the blind spots in detection that inevitably develop as a result of understaffing. We may be lucky this time and avoid any severe outbreaks. But surely we can agree that it is irresponsible to base our disease detection and response strategy on luck.
...
(David Satcher, a physician, is director of Morehouse School of Medicine?s Satcher Health Leadership Institute. He was director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 1998 and U.S. surgeon general from 1998 to 2002. He serves on the board of directors of the CDC Foundation.)

Full text:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-13/what-if-a-flu-breaks-out-when-cdc-can-t-track-it.html

gsgs · Oct 14, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

nobody mentioned this - but the most important thing in
pandemic detection is sequencing and genbank. Remember 2009.

and it's not only for USA, genbank gets international viruses,
e.g. H7N9 from China

now, we get no genbank updates

what would happen, if China detects a new virus as on
Mar.31.2013 ? Would we get it to examine its pandemic potential ?

I think genbank should be run by WHO or UNO

sharon sanders · Oct 15, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Fitch puts US AAA rating on rating watch negative

Published: Tuesday, 15 Oct 2013 | 4:46 PM ET
By: CNBC.com with Reuters

Fitch puts US credit rating on negative watch
Tuesday, 15 Oct 2013 | 4:46 PM ET
Fitch has put the U.S. credit rating on negative watch, reports CNBC's Dominic Chu.
Fitch Ratings put the US government's "AAA" credit rating on 'rating watch negative' Tuesday, saying that the standstill on the U.S. debt ceiling negotiations risks undermining the effectiveness of the country's government and political institutions.

U.S. stock index futures fell.

more...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101093033

mixin · Oct 15, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Who decides what services are essential and what ones aren't?

sharon sanders · Oct 15, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Not sure...I think the choice would be to print money to pay all the bills with less valuable dollars, or, start selling off assets.

The US has a lot of assets. Start selling.

Ronan Kelly · Oct 16, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Here's a graphic from Bloomberg with a couple of options http://www.bloomberg.com/infographi...-payment-options-when-the-money-runs-out.html

sharon sanders · Oct 16, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Interesting.

I wonder how much money we could raise by selling:

1) The Congress building,

2) The White House building,

3) Most federal buildings around the country. Let workers telecommute mostly.

4) Surplus various items forgotten in warehouses. Maybe scrap metal value.

gsgs · Oct 16, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Senate Leaders Reach Bipartisan Deal

Shiloh · Oct 16, 2013

Re: Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Source: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/cdc-shutdown-director/

CDC Director: In the Shutdown, ?We Are Juggling Chainsaws?

By Maryn McKenna
10.16.13
2:19 PM

We?re now on the sixteenth day of the federal shutdown. As I write, the Senate has announced a deal to avoid a debt default and open the government. It remains to be seen whether that will work, or how fast. Yesterday, on Day 15, I had a long conversation with Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about what this shutdown has meant for his agency, its employees, and the health of Americans, and the world. I have lightly edited the conversation for clarity.

Maryn McKenna, WIRED: You?re on Day 15 of sending home 68 percent of your 13,000-person staff, in Atlanta and around the world. How is the CDC coping?

Thomas R. Frieden, CDC: Every day this goes on, it gets harder to manage. We?re used to juggling things at CDC, but this is like juggling chain saws...

Has the Government Shutdown Made the USA Vulnerable to a Pandemic?

Laidback Al

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Pathfinder

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sharon sanders

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Laidback Al

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sharon sanders

Editor-in-Chief & President

sharon sanders

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Pathfinder

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Pathfinder

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gsgs

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sharon sanders

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mixin

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sharon sanders

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Ronan Kelly

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sharon sanders

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gsgs

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Shiloh

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