Hospital leaders say the health system won’t be ready if the avian flu that’s infected American dairy cattle becomes widespread among humans.
In discussing a hypothetical scenario, the hospitals have struck a different tone than the Biden administration. It says the risk is currently low to most people and that agencies are closely monitoring for any sign of danger to Americans.
Still, hospital officials told POLITICO they’re dismayed that they don’t feel better prepared, just four years after Covid-19 caught them unawares. They’re not confident that the health care system — including the government agencies that have wound down Covid responses — can avoid the missteps around tests, bed space and communication that plagued the last public health emergency, should this strain of flu, H5N1, become more of a threat.
The fuck do you mean “should this strain become a threat”
It’s jumped to like 15 mammal species so far and decimated a bunch of them when it did
It’s jumped to humans many times
Workers are working next to infected cattle right now every day with this sort of “idk wear a mask try not to get anything on you good luck” safety measure
The recent case fatality rate in humans is 30%
The fuck do you mean “should this strain become a threat”
IDK whether it’s going to cause an apocalypse in humans like it did in a bunch of other species, anything could happen
But IDK what you’re waiting for before you decide it’s a threat. What, once it’s spreading human to human and people are dying by the thousands and it’s too late to do anything but try to limit the damage, then it’s going to become “a threat”?
Where are you getting the 30% fatality rate from?
This table shows the history; I assumed that 2023 and 2024 represent more or less the current strain, and took 6 deaths divided by 19 cases = 31% CFR.