Petrelis Files

NYT Omission: Bush Flu Plan on the Web, More Than a Year

Psst. Hey, you. Can I interest you in a copy of the Bush administration's super-duper top secret plan to deal with a flu epidemic hitting our United States of America?

You've read the lead story in the October 8 New York Times, all about how the latest draft of the plan was obtained by sleuthing reporters of the paper.

What the Gray Lady forget to tell you is that a draft of the plan, from August 2004, that's more a year ago, is available on the web.

Yep, if cruise on over to the Department of Health and Human Services web site, you can lay your eyes upon basically the same document viewed by Times reporters.

I know, you're thinking I'm trying to sell you a cheap knock-off of an original Times-viewed plan and that the paper of record surely would inform readers of the plan's free availability on the web, but I swear what I'm pushing is only slightly different than what the Times has seen. Really.

The Times says the Bush administration plan "skirts many essential decisions, such as how the military might be deployed."

Maybe the version the report saw skirts such decisions, but the earlier draft does address use of the military to execute a quarantine of infected people either entry the country or crossing state lines.

Look at page 19 of part of the plan and this section:

"42 U.S.C 264: Prevention of Communicable Diseases [...] Implementing regulations at 42 C.F.R. Part 71 permit [HHS] to detain, isolate, put into isolation, or place under surveillance any arriving person reasonably believed to be infected with or exposed to the diseases listed under the most recent Executive Order.

"[...] Customs and Coast Guard Officers are authorized in the enforcement of Federal quarantine rules and regulations, 42 U.S.C. 268, and the Secretary may request assistance from Customs, Coast Guard, and military officers in the execution of State quarantine actions."

Sounds to me like flu epidemic planners are addressing how the military might be used to control infected persons.

And speaking of New York Times reporters and the flu, did you know science reporter Gina Kolata, author of a front page article this past week on the flu and a book about the 1918 flu epidemic, only recently got her first flu vaccine shot?

Read this excerpt from a talk Kolata had with the folks at WebMD, which the medical site says took place on a December 7, but no year is provided:

[snip] moderator I've got to ask -- has immersing yourself in all this information about viruses altered your behavior in any way?

CD_Speaker I never had a flu shot until this year. I had believed the story going around that the 1976 flu vaccine showed that the vaccine is worse than the disease. This year, I got my first flu shot done

moderator 'Course, that'll only protect you against the current, active strains....

CD_Speaker True, but the real change in my thinking is that I no longer think the flu shot is a problem. Now I appreciate the dangers of flu

I realize that this innocent seeming virus can be a killer. [snip]

Now, do yourself a favor, which is not going to cost you anything other than time and go read the Bush administration plan for battling a domestic flu epidemic. Then, get scared as you recall Katrina, FEMA and Michael D. Brown.