Can We Trust Chertoff And Homeland Security? Avian Flu And Other Concerns, By Michael A. Minton (03/11/2006)

I guess I should dedicate this article to all those liberals out there who have accused me of having “no critical thinking skills.” That’s a direct quote. I know…hard to believe, huh? Well, my liberal friends, this one’s for you.

With the recent catastrophe that followed Hurricane Katrina: the breakdown in communication; the professional rescuers who were not allowed into the area for days; the buses which sat in compounds instead of carrying those left behind in New Orleans to safety; the THOUSANDS of mobile homes which sit rotting when they could be used by those left homeless by the killer storm, one has to wonder how the Department of Homeland Security would respond to an outbreak of H5N1, or ‘Bird Flu,’ if…no, make that when…an outbreak occurs here in the States.

And according to a top U.N. health official, it WILL be in North America within the next six to twelve months…if not sooner, according to a March 10 article in the Washington Times. That same article quotes DHS chief Chertoff as saying, “I can't predict, but I certainly have to say that we should be prepared for the possibility that at some point in the next few months a wild fowl will come over the migratory pathway and will be infected with H5N1."

Mr. Chertoff tried to maintain calm in America over the impending bird flu invasion, saying, "If we get a wild bird or even a domestic chicken that gets infected with avian flu, we're going to be able to deal with it, because we've got a lot of experience with that." Chertoff was referring to the fact that testing for various other forms of bird flu has been going on by the Agriculture Department for years.

The last paragraph of the Washington Times article states the following: “If a bird-flu case is confirmed in the United States, Mr. Chertoff said the Homeland Security Department would have specific plans to deal with it, including watching to see if it developed human health characteristics. ‘But it would not be time to push the panic button,’ he said.”

Ironically, an article appearing in the USA Today a day earlier, on March 9th, painted quite a different picture. According to that article, it would indeed be time to ‘push the panic button,’ were a human case of H5N1 to enter the United States via an international airline.

According to the USA Today article, there is major concern among airline officials and government officials alike should a planeload of international passengers need to be quarantined. The article says, “Eighteen airports with heavy international traffic have small federal quarantine stations. They must rely on airlines and state and local authorities to help identify sick travelers and, if needed, quarantine other passengers.” Need I remind you what happened when the Department of Homeland Security had to rely on state and local officials after Katrina?

And I truly don’t mean to pick on airlines, but are we really supposed to rely on them to not only recognize a passenger with bird flu, but to also coordinate a quarantine, when they can’t seem to even get my luggage from Louisville, KY, to Baltimore, MD? Give me a break.

The DHS, as well as the airline industry, is woefully under-prepared for an outbreak of H5N1, especially if the sickness mutates into a germ that can be transmitted from human to human. According to USA Today, “Bird flu response plans are still being developed at many airports, where the first human case could show up. Few airports have practiced quarantine scenarios. It has been more than 40 years since a U.S. airport quarantined a passenger, for smallpox.”