3 ms·

Gentle reminder that just because you don’t know it exists, doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_National_Stockpile https:/

by freen 7y ago

Gentle reminder that just because you don’t know it exists, doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_National_Stockpile https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_National_Stockpile

carlosdp 7y ago
There was literally an article about it on the HN front page earlier this week, this comment should be higher.
sneak 7y ago
I saw the responses they've recently made to hurricanes and fires and now the coronavirus, and they were all woefully inadequate. Just because they have a big building somewhere prepping for a smallpox attack doesn't mean they're in any way whatsoever prepared for the actual issues that people are having, today and in the recent past. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1235695757652459520.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1235695757652459520.html > The U.S. Congress appropriated funds for the CDC to create a pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpile to handle biological and chemical threats from disease that could affect large numbers of the U.S. civilian population. The original name was the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) program, but since the original authorization additional materials have been added to the stockpile. Again, I think this is way too threat-actor focused. I'm reminded so much of George C Scott's character in Dr. Strangelove. We're much more likely to end up underwater or on fire or without crops or with a water shortage or with a novel virus that simply evolved than someone seeding bioweapons for which we already have medicines/vaccines. This simply isn't about responding to an attack. It's about helping people stay alive when the normal order of society goes tits up. We've seen this again and again, most recently in Puerto Rico and California. If the federal government has prepared for this in any meaningful way, we've yet to see it out in the field during previous disasters. We have, however, seen them manage to continue to wage the longest war in US history, whilst people in Oakland were making zip-tie homemade not-quite-HEPA filters and wearing "face masks" made out of bandanas because available civilian supplies everywhere had run out when half of California caught fire, to say nothing of the death toll resulting from the long-running power outages in Puerto Rico after Maria. I really don't think a warehouse full of vaccines and antibiotics sitting in DC is any help to the people in diabetic comas in San Juan because their insulin fridge's generator ran out of fuel after weeks of no power, nor will it be if due to the coronavirus spreading too much, ICUs across the country are swamped with cases of viral pneumonia. I hope I'm wrong and that the federal government is going to magically pull something actually helpful out of their ass if this thing goes big, but I would put my money on them being about as helpful as they were during any other recent large natural disaster affecting US citizens: approximately zero. Also, TFA refutes some of the claims at the Strategic National Stockpile Wikipedia page: > There is no surge capability in the U.S. healthcare and public health systems,[5] or in the pharmaceutical and vaccine industries.[4]
ceejayoz 7y ago
The follow-up question is then "why is the government bleating about mask shortages"? If they're worried about running out of masks now, the stockpile wasn't big enough for even a small pandemic, let alone a large one.
sneak 7y ago
Two minutes ago I just watched the mayor of New York City on CNN say that they don't have enough hand sanitizer or surgical masks for their medical infrastructure and that they have over twenty confirmed cases of coronavirus and are expecting more, and that the federal government has not provided them with any sort of supply assistance yet, or any sort of timeline on when they might. The mayor of DC followed and said something similar.

by freen 7y ago

carlosdp 7y ago

There was literally an article about it on the HN front page earlier this week, this comment should be higher.

sneak 7y ago

I saw the responses they've recently made to hurricanes and fires and now the coronavirus, and they were all woefully inadequate. Just because they have a big building somewhere prepping for a smallpox attack doesn't mean they're in any way whatsoever prepared for the actual issues that people are having, today and in the recent past. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1235695757652459520.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1235695757652459520.html > The U.S. Congress appropriated funds for the CDC to create a pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpile to handle biological and chemical threats from disease that could affect large numbers of the U.S. civilian population. The original name was the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) program, but since the original authorization additional materials have been added to the stockpile. Again, I think this is way too threat-actor focused. I'm reminded so much of George C Scott's character in Dr. Strangelove. We're much more likely to end up underwater or on fire or without crops or with a water shortage or with a novel virus that simply evolved than someone seeding bioweapons for which we already have medicines/vaccines. This simply isn't about responding to an attack. It's about helping people stay alive when the normal order of society goes tits up. We've seen this again and again, most recently in Puerto Rico and California. If the federal government has prepared for this in any meaningful way, we've yet to see it out in the field during previous disasters. We have, however, seen them manage to continue to wage the longest war in US history, whilst people in Oakland were making zip-tie homemade not-quite-HEPA filters and wearing "face masks" made out of bandanas because available civilian supplies everywhere had run out when half of California caught fire, to say nothing of the death toll resulting from the long-running power outages in Puerto Rico after Maria. I really don't think a warehouse full of vaccines and antibiotics sitting in DC is any help to the people in diabetic comas in San Juan because their insulin fridge's generator ran out of fuel after weeks of no power, nor will it be if due to the coronavirus spreading too much, ICUs across the country are swamped with cases of viral pneumonia. I hope I'm wrong and that the federal government is going to magically pull something actually helpful out of their ass if this thing goes big, but I would put my money on them being about as helpful as they were during any other recent large natural disaster affecting US citizens: approximately zero. Also, TFA refutes some of the claims at the Strategic National Stockpile Wikipedia page: > There is no surge capability in the U.S. healthcare and public health systems,[5] or in the pharmaceutical and vaccine industries.[4]

ceejayoz 7y ago

The follow-up question is then "why is the government bleating about mask shortages"? If they're worried about running out of masks now, the stockpile wasn't big enough for even a small pandemic, let alone a large one.

sneak 7y ago

Two minutes ago I just watched the mayor of New York City on CNN say that they don't have enough hand sanitizer or surgical masks for their medical infrastructure and that they have over twenty confirmed cases of coronavirus and are expecting more, and that the federal government has not provided them with any sort of supply assistance yet, or any sort of timeline on when they might. The mayor of DC followed and said something similar.