4 ms·

We have early warnings for hurricanes. We need one for pandemics

7 points by Anon84 4y ago

version_five 4y ago
I find this ridiculous. Hurricanes are acute events where an understood phenomenon occurs and people need to take shelter. (I expect someone can come up with a feigned misunderstanding claiming pandemics are equivalent) Early pandemic warnings and action make sense inside of public health organizations (and there are companies like BlueDot that offer intelligence on infectious diseases - they actually spotted Covid before it became what it did). Broadcasting some poorly understood "pandemic warnings" to the masses will just result in fear and eventually people completely ignoring them. Alarmism over potential disease outbreaks does not help. This is just people wanting to ride on covid's coattails and grab some power out of it.
walterbell 4y ago
We also need rigorous local and global version control of definitions of "pandemic" and other terms which get baked into legal documents with economic, health and safety implications.
- version_five 4y ago
  If you're saying what I think you are, it's that as soon as we define what can be done in a "pandemic", every cold and flu will suddenly be labeled as such and let governments have absolute power over what people can do again. This should be a huge concern, after all the success of waving the magic wand of covid to bypass any objections, the real "new normal" will be special interests constantly using "pandemics" to get their way. Rather than enshining version control, I think we need to make the limits on government power clear, and (unfortunately) revoke a lot of powers, like vaccination and limiting gatherings, that a responsible government might have needed to invoke on a more serious public health crisis.
  - walterbell 4y ago
    Agreed, but the horse has already left the barn. Take a look at the 2000-era definition of pandemic vs today and the detailed history of revisions, including WHO changes and Bush-era copy-and-paste U.S. state health legislation developed by a health policy advisor to Clinton and WHO. The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: Balancing Public Safety and Civil Liberties, https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019&context=student_scholarship https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019... > The CDC, in collaboration with health law scholars from Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, drafted “The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act” (from here on, the “Model Act”) in 2001 as a nonbinding blueprint for the states to follow when revising their public health emergency laws. The Model Act’s drafting was motivated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, SARS outbreak, and anthrax scare, which alerted lawmakers to holes in the public health infrastructure ... Lawrence Gostin, public health law scholar and the Model Act’s leading author, has identified four purposes for the Model Act ... As of August 1, 2011, 40 states have incorporated a version of the Model Act’s provisions into state law. 2002 objections: https://fee.org/articles/a-model-for-medical-tyranny/ https://fee.org/articles/a-model-for-medical-tyranny/ Unfortunately, most countries are poised to move further within 10 days, by extending the scope of existing global IHR regulations. This should be covered by all major media, but so far it's been mostly fringe sites tackling the topic, with a distracting amount of unnecessary ranting, given the seriousness of the topic and copious public documentation. Better sources welcome. https://cairnsnews.org/2022/04/09/who-ihr-treaty-will-override-constitutions-of-australia-and-america/ https://cairnsnews.org/2022/04/09/who-ihr-treaty-will-overri... https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/pandemic-treaty https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/pandemic-treaty

7 points by Anon84 4y ago

I find this ridiculous. Hurricanes are acute events where an understood phenomenon occurs and people need to take shelter. (I expect someone can come up with a feigned misunderstanding claiming pandemics are equivalent) Early pandemic warnings and action make sense inside of public health organizations (and there are companies like BlueDot that offer intelligence on infectious diseases - they actually spotted Covid before it became what it did). Broadcasting some poorly understood "pandemic warnings" to the masses will just result in fear and eventually people completely ignoring them. Alarmism over potential disease outbreaks does not help. This is just people wanting to ride on covid's coattails and grab some power out of it.

walterbell 4y ago

We also need rigorous local and global version control of definitions of "pandemic" and other terms which get baked into legal documents with economic, health and safety implications.

version_five 4y ago
If you're saying what I think you are, it's that as soon as we define what can be done in a "pandemic", every cold and flu will suddenly be labeled as such and let governments have absolute power over what people can do again. This should be a huge concern, after all the success of waving the magic wand of covid to bypass any objections, the real "new normal" will be special interests constantly using "pandemics" to get their way. Rather than enshining version control, I think we need to make the limits on government power clear, and (unfortunately) revoke a lot of powers, like vaccination and limiting gatherings, that a responsible government might have needed to invoke on a more serious public health crisis.
- walterbell 4y ago
  Agreed, but the horse has already left the barn. Take a look at the 2000-era definition of pandemic vs today and the detailed history of revisions, including WHO changes and Bush-era copy-and-paste U.S. state health legislation developed by a health policy advisor to Clinton and WHO. The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: Balancing Public Safety and Civil Liberties, https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019&context=student_scholarship https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019... > The CDC, in collaboration with health law scholars from Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, drafted “The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act” (from here on, the “Model Act”) in 2001 as a nonbinding blueprint for the states to follow when revising their public health emergency laws. The Model Act’s drafting was motivated by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, SARS outbreak, and anthrax scare, which alerted lawmakers to holes in the public health infrastructure ... Lawrence Gostin, public health law scholar and the Model Act’s leading author, has identified four purposes for the Model Act ... As of August 1, 2011, 40 states have incorporated a version of the Model Act’s provisions into state law. 2002 objections: https://fee.org/articles/a-model-for-medical-tyranny/ https://fee.org/articles/a-model-for-medical-tyranny/ Unfortunately, most countries are poised to move further within 10 days, by extending the scope of existing global IHR regulations. This should be covered by all major media, but so far it's been mostly fringe sites tackling the topic, with a distracting amount of unnecessary ranting, given the seriousness of the topic and copious public documentation. Better sources welcome. https://cairnsnews.org/2022/04/09/who-ihr-treaty-will-override-constitutions-of-australia-and-america/ https://cairnsnews.org/2022/04/09/who-ihr-treaty-will-overri... https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/pandemic-treaty https://jamesroguski.substack.com/p/pandemic-treaty