by Mark Silva
Near the close of a week in which the federal government declared a public health emergency because of swine flu - make that H1N1 virus - and the numbers of cases confirmed inside the United States multiplied from 20 early Monday to nearly 200 today, President Barack Obama today attempted to restore a sense of calm.
The cases in the U.S. - including a few suspected cases involving one of the Obama administration's own advance men on the president's recent trip to Mexico and relatives whom he infected on return - are not as severe as the many cases, including some deaths, that have been confirmed in Mexico, the president said today. The only death confirmed so far in the U.S. was that of a toddler who traveled to Texas with his family from Mexico.
"We have not yet seen those kinds of fatalities here in the United States among young, healthy people with non-compromised immune systems,'' Obama said at a meeting with his Cabinet, his first full Cabinet meeting since the swearing-in of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this week.
The government is taking all due precautions, he said - the day after his vice president suggested that people should avoid airplanes and subway trains and the White House said, no, only ill people should stay away.
"I just want everyone to be sure that this is why this is a cause for concern -- not alarm,'' said Obama, repeating the words of concern but not alarm that he had first voiced Monday morning.
Comments
Well, after Vice Embarrassment Biden told people not to fly or board planes, I guess Obama had to do something.
Funny, though, outside of the media, I don't think most people are panicking and are relatively calm, except, of course for the airlines after Biden's latest nutty moment.
Posted by: John D | May 1, 2009 2:42 PM
Reminds me the way Dictators calm their country.
Posted by: Inky | May 1, 2009 2:48 PM
The White House has a new Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse where they're talking about the flu, too.
Posted by: Tom J | May 1, 2009 4:22 PM
What we really need is the good old-fashioned plague from mexico so we can ALL dance to the tune of Divine Diversity!
Posted by: Harold Reimann | May 1, 2009 7:44 PM