White House Panel Warns of 90,000 Swine Flu Deaths, Hospital Disruptions
A White House advisory panel has warned that 90,000 people could die and 1.8 million people could need hospitalization this year from the H1N1 swine flu. The President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology say this is a plausible scenario.
CNN reports that the 90,000 deaths in this scenario will be mainly children and young adults. Bloombergreports that the advisers are also warning this could lead to "severe disruptions" at our nation's hospitals.
Swine flu may hospitalize 1.8 million patients in the U.S. this year, filling intensive care units to capacity and causing "severe disruptions" during a fall resurgence, scientific advisers to the White House warned.
The advisers say as many as 300,000 people may be in hospital intensive care units this winter.
The president's advisory council describes as a "plausible scenario," that 30 percent to 50 percent of the U.S. population will be infected in the fall and winter. As many as 300,000 patients may be treated in hospital intensive care units, filling 50 percent to 100 percent of the available beds, and 30,000 to 90,000 people may die, the group's report said.
"This is a planning scenario, not a prediction," according to the report. "But the scenario illustrates that an H1N1 resurgence could cause serious disruption of social and medical capacities in our country in the coming months."
Peter Gross, chief medical officer at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, said if the group's scenario comes true, "I think every hospital in America is going to be in a crunch. We’ll be hard pressed to deal with those predictions," he said.
The panel advised President Obama that speeding up the vaccine production would be the best way to ease the burden on hospitals.
President Barack Obama was urged by his scientific advisory council to speed vaccine production as the best way to ease the burden on the health care system. Initial doses should be accelerated to mid-September to provide shots for as many as 40 million people, the panel said in a report released yesterday. Members also recommended Obama name a senior member of the White House staff, preferably the homeland security adviser, to take responsibility for decision-making on the pandemic.
Unfortunately, the HHS has already said that even the highest priority groups (children, pregnant women) won't be fully vaccinated until Thanksgiving. Another way to slow the spread of the virus would be to close schools but the government instead is telling schools to prepare to keep on teaching no matter how many kids are out sick. Back in May, the CDC was advising schools to close to slow the spread of swine flu but that policy changed shortly after Kathleen Sebelius was named Health and Human Services Secretary.
A White House advisory panel has 
