Wednesday, October 05, 2005
The next crisis: Bush weighs in
The intensity of new coverage on Avian Flu is picking up. Instapundit picks up an interesting exchange at Bush's press conference. The Q word come up pretty early on, with the implication that the military could be used to restrict movement here in the US.
Bush goes on to touch on international cooperation in quickly reporting and containing instances of human to human transmission, as well as vaccine development. I find it very interesting both that the president seems well briefed on this topic, and that the press would ask the question in the first place (since it has nothing to do with Joe Wilson, Tom Delay, Katrina, or Abu Graib). I am surprised that he would mention the option of using the military to enforce a quarantine. It is both a comforting and troubling thought, but it does show that someone is taking this threat very seriously.
UPDATE from TigerHawk: I have often thought that it is no coincidence that the rise of legally enforceable individual rights in the United States and Europe, which is really a post-World War II phenomenon even in the democracies, corresponded with the development of powerful antibiotics. Back when infectious disease was the leading cause of death people understood that police measures such as involuntary quarantine were the only way to protect the population during an outbreak. Since the (perhaps temporary) elimination of infectious disease as a major cause of death, people have forgotten that it used to be very common for the cops to lock people up in their homes, no questions asked, at the first sign of infection. If or when this country has a significant lethal outbreak, we will see our carefully litigated right to due process crumble against the requirement for decisive and immediate measures to protect the public health. It will again become imaginable that fundamentally innocent people might be locked up, at least temporarily, for the public welfare.
Bush: The policy decisions for a President in dealing with an avian flu outbreak are difficult. One example: If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country, and how do you then enforce a quarantine? When -- it's one thing to shut down airplanes; it's another thing to prevent people from coming in to get exposed to the avian flu. And who best to be able to effect a quarantine? One option is the use of a military that's able to plan and move.
Bush goes on to touch on international cooperation in quickly reporting and containing instances of human to human transmission, as well as vaccine development. I find it very interesting both that the president seems well briefed on this topic, and that the press would ask the question in the first place (since it has nothing to do with Joe Wilson, Tom Delay, Katrina, or Abu Graib). I am surprised that he would mention the option of using the military to enforce a quarantine. It is both a comforting and troubling thought, but it does show that someone is taking this threat very seriously.
UPDATE from TigerHawk: I have often thought that it is no coincidence that the rise of legally enforceable individual rights in the United States and Europe, which is really a post-World War II phenomenon even in the democracies, corresponded with the development of powerful antibiotics. Back when infectious disease was the leading cause of death people understood that police measures such as involuntary quarantine were the only way to protect the population during an outbreak. Since the (perhaps temporary) elimination of infectious disease as a major cause of death, people have forgotten that it used to be very common for the cops to lock people up in their homes, no questions asked, at the first sign of infection. If or when this country has a significant lethal outbreak, we will see our carefully litigated right to due process crumble against the requirement for decisive and immediate measures to protect the public health. It will again become imaginable that fundamentally innocent people might be locked up, at least temporarily, for the public welfare.
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