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Medical team members wear masks as they walk in downtown Mexico City, capital of Mexico, April 25, 2009.


A leading Chinese epidemiologist is urging the medical community to revamp its medical response plan to counter the growing A(H1N1) pandemic, particularly in light of what has been called a failure by the United States to get a handle on the outbreak.


The Obama administration declared the flu a national emergency Saturday – a move that lifts many federal requirements that otherwise tend to slow the treatment of patients.


"The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden healthcare resources in some localities," Obama said in the declaration, which allows local authorities to set up makeshift emergency rooms to treat possible flu victims separately from regular patients.


Officials said it was not issued due to any specific development, but rather as a preemptive measure.


US authorities have been under fire due to their loose precautionary measures in light of the looming domestic epidemic during the early stages of the outbreak.


Disease control departments in the country failed to urge outbound air passengers to wear facial masks or to quarantine those who were suspected of infection, according to earlier reports.


The US was therefore accused of falling into a source of the A(H1N1) virus, as some of the initial infections in China and other Asian nations were brought by individuals from the US.


Jin Canrong, vice director of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said the US was responsible for the H1N1 pandemic.


Global Times

netawhile

Obama announces a health emergency while H1/N1 "swine flu" on the loose and running ramped globally.  The change in the national status to pandemic comes long after the WHO's order was issued in June (a Phase-6 pandemic).  The H1/N1 was being tracked prior to 2009 and was traced to have origins in Mexico.  The constant influx of illegal immigration activity and routine back-and-forth travel between Mexico and the U.S. has created a condition for rapid spread.

The U.S. was not in line with the WHO; some saying the WHO's rise in the alert was an overreaction.  A world health global alert should come first as an alert for all nations to take measures to ramp up their national responses.  If the WHO's order had a direct global effect of mandatory participation, it would have a panel of high-level national leaders that would deliberate on issuing the pandemic call.  In this case, the national alert power would not belong to individual Presidents or leaders.
But, if the WHO or another global medical watch-dog had this power, the pandemic alert would have come much later pending the agreement of the global panel.  With the limited power of the WHO, it was quick to raise the alert to "pandemic" in anticipation of a slow response of the individual nations.

Ordinary seasonal flu kills these 36,000 people in the U.S.  What is viewed as a late issue of the H1/N1 pandemic alert by Obama is based on risk management and the statistics in the U.S.  Unfortunately, the slow response has allowed "business as usual" and the disease is spreading within the U.S. and through continued unrestricted international air travel.  The transfer also continues from the alleged Mexican sources.  The slow response by Obama, for whatever reason, has facilitated the the spread and the spread has grown exponentially.

By now, we all should all be familiar with the three "C's" to help prevent the H1N1 virus from spreading – Cover, Clean and Confine.  Also, when coughing, do not cough into your hands!  Rather, cough into your arm near the elbow, into your clothing and keep your hands as germ-free as possible.

Should the World Health Organization (WHO) have a more global, far-reaching power on all nations and determine the proper time for the world of all nations to adhere to a global alert?  It would make sense as we enter into a more globally interconnected phase of history.  This is definitely a wake-up call.