On his Cold Truth blog, Andrew Schneider questions some H1N1-related public health decisions while acknowledging the difficulties policymakers are bound to have with the fast-spreading strain of influenza. Schneider describes how the communities now coping with the some of the first large-scale H1N1 outbreaks of flu season have responded in wildly divergent ways, doing everything from canceling football games and quarantining students to allowing business to go on as usual despite what The Seattle Times said was the highest infection rate in the state.
Schneider’s point is that, given the stakes, there should probably be a standardized program for dealing with swine flu outbreaks: “If H1N1 truly poses the health risk that government experts say it does,” Schneider asks, “isn’t it time that the CDC and the public health community stop sending mixed messages and articulate a coherent, consistent policy for controlling the spread of the disease?”
Related
A consumer-oriented page in which the CDC answers common H1N1 questions
