By Laura Smith - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) discussed measures that are being taken to manage the spread of the H1N1 virus Wednesday during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on how the U.S. has so far dealt with the virus.
Lieberman, the committee's chairman, said the H1N1 virus reached pandemic levels this summer and that it was impossible to accurately report how many people in the U.S. have died from the H1N1 virus because it’s hard to stay on top of the numbers.
“We do know that at least 2,300 people have died in the United States from the H1N1 flu in the last few months,” Lieberman said.
Lieberman mentioned that the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the H1N1 flu virus has spread to all 50 states in the country, and that “this particular strain of influenza has moved at an alarming speed and taken an exceptionally high toll at a time of year when we normally don’t encounter significant cases of flu.”
Lieberman also said that pregnant women are being hit hard by the H1N1 virus. He said that of 100 pregnant women who required intensive care and were treated for the flu in late August, 28 died.
The former Democrat said he is concerned that the flu is spreading so rapidly and in some cases with such intensity that it may well be getting ahead of the federal government’s ability to prevent and respond to it.
Lieberman gave three reasons for his concern: The schedule for the production and availability of the vaccine, the fact that hospitals and public health departments don’t have the capacity to care for the surge of people who may need hospitalization as a result of the virus, and the availability of intravenous antiviral medication to treat the critically ill who have contracted the virus.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) mentioned that Bates College in Lewiston, Maine issued a report showing that there was a jump in how many students at their school had the H1N1 virus, from six to 160 people in just a week.
“As of yesterday, 245 Bates students are infected with H1N1,” Collins said.
She said public health experts are learning as they go along, sometimes with the surprising results that run counter to their previous assumptions about H1N1. She added that the CDC released a report saying that 46 percent of 1400 adults hospitalized with H1N1 were healthy and did not have underlying chronic illnesses before getting H1N1.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she testified in April that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and their federal partners were addressing the situation of the H1N1 virus aggressively and collectively. She said their planning has assumed that there would be some gap period between when vaccine would be commonly available and when the flu would actually be present.
“In other words they were assuming some lag time between the flu spiking and vaccine availability,” she said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the H1N1 virus has not changed significantly since April. She also said that people are using the website flu.gov as a tool, and that the website has gotten about five million hits a week.
She also said the flu season officially started October 4th, but echoed Sen. Lieberman's assertion that this is not a typical flu season.
“Visits to doctors are higher than expected, 41 states represent what we now call wide spread level of activity, which is just the count that they’re giving, and the remaining states are at elevated levels of flu. so this is a national issue,” Sebelius said.
She said there have been 86 reported H1N1 pediatric deaths since the virus was reported earlier this year, and that pregnant women are among those seriously affected.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Sebelius if she thought the spread of the virus would come down in the winter months, and she said she was hoping it would after people were vaccinated.
McCain confronted Sebelius about a comment she made saying there would be many people who would not be vaccinated, and asked her if she was worried about hospital over utilization and lack of capacity in the hospitals in America, to which Sebelius stumbled to a response.
Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said schools earlier this year closely followed school-dismissal guidance policies developed by the CDC. One example he gave occurred on April 26, 2009 when he said, “the CDC advised schools to consider closing when they had a confirmed or suspected case of H1N1 - and we found that schools adhered to that advice.”
Duncan said they learned a lesson in the spring that not only did schools follow the CDC’s advice on flu-related issues, but also that quickly closing a school is a complex undertaking that has consequences beyond the loss of valuable school time.
“For example, unplanned school closures led to the loss of school meals for some of the 31 million kids who rely on the federal school meals programs, loss of wages for parents who had to stay home from home to take care of their children, and older students left home without proper supervision,” he said.
Senators, Cabinet Officials Say They're Closely Monitoring H1N1
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) discussed measures that are being taken to manage the spread of the H1N1 virus Wednesday during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on how the U.S. has so far dealt with the virus.
Lieberman, the committee's chairman, said the H1N1 virus reached pandemic levels this summer and that it was impossible to accurately report how many people in the U.S. have died from the H1N1 virus because it’s hard to stay on top of the numbers.
“We do know that at least 2,300 people have died in the United States from the H1N1 flu in the last few months,” Lieberman said.
Lieberman mentioned that the Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the H1N1 flu virus has spread to all 50 states in the country, and that “this particular strain of influenza has moved at an alarming speed and taken an exceptionally high toll at a time of year when we normally don’t encounter significant cases of flu.”
Lieberman also said that pregnant women are being hit hard by the H1N1 virus. He said that of 100 pregnant women who required intensive care and were treated for the flu in late August, 28 died.
The former Democrat said he is concerned that the flu is spreading so rapidly and in some cases with such intensity that it may well be getting ahead of the federal government’s ability to prevent and respond to it.
Lieberman gave three reasons for his concern: The schedule for the production and availability of the vaccine, the fact that hospitals and public health departments don’t have the capacity to care for the surge of people who may need hospitalization as a result of the virus, and the availability of intravenous antiviral medication to treat the critically ill who have contracted the virus.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) mentioned that Bates College in Lewiston, Maine issued a report showing that there was a jump in how many students at their school had the H1N1 virus, from six to 160 people in just a week.
“As of yesterday, 245 Bates students are infected with H1N1,” Collins said.
She said public health experts are learning as they go along, sometimes with the surprising results that run counter to their previous assumptions about H1N1. She added that the CDC released a report saying that 46 percent of 1400 adults hospitalized with H1N1 were healthy and did not have underlying chronic illnesses before getting H1N1.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she testified in April that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and their federal partners were addressing the situation of the H1N1 virus aggressively and collectively. She said their planning has assumed that there would be some gap period between when vaccine would be commonly available and when the flu would actually be present.
“In other words they were assuming some lag time between the flu spiking and vaccine availability,” she said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the H1N1 virus has not changed significantly since April. She also said that people are using the website flu.gov as a tool, and that the website has gotten about five million hits a week.
She also said the flu season officially started October 4th, but echoed Sen. Lieberman's assertion that this is not a typical flu season.
“Visits to doctors are higher than expected, 41 states represent what we now call wide spread level of activity, which is just the count that they’re giving, and the remaining states are at elevated levels of flu. so this is a national issue,” Sebelius said.
She said there have been 86 reported H1N1 pediatric deaths since the virus was reported earlier this year, and that pregnant women are among those seriously affected.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Sebelius if she thought the spread of the virus would come down in the winter months, and she said she was hoping it would after people were vaccinated.
McCain confronted Sebelius about a comment she made saying there would be many people who would not be vaccinated, and asked her if she was worried about hospital over utilization and lack of capacity in the hospitals in America, to which Sebelius stumbled to a response.
Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan said schools earlier this year closely followed school-dismissal guidance policies developed by the CDC. One example he gave occurred on April 26, 2009 when he said, “the CDC advised schools to consider closing when they had a confirmed or suspected case of H1N1 - and we found that schools adhered to that advice.”
Duncan said they learned a lesson in the spring that not only did schools follow the CDC’s advice on flu-related issues, but also that quickly closing a school is a complex undertaking that has consequences beyond the loss of valuable school time.
“For example, unplanned school closures led to the loss of school meals for some of the 31 million kids who rely on the federal school meals programs, loss of wages for parents who had to stay home from home to take care of their children, and older students left home without proper supervision,” he said.