Swine Flu Emergency: What Obama's Declaration Means

by Nick Reilly

As the H1N1 virus continues to spread and delays in vaccination production mount, the risk of overburdening health-care facilities compelled President Barack Obama this weekend to declare the swine-flu virus a national emergency. By definition, the state of emergency permits the suspension or invocation of certain governmental functions to allow the expeditious handling of an emergency. In other words: certain governmental safeguards are dropped so that people can get care faster. Although such a declaration increases a president’s emergency powers, potentially allowing martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus among other things, this power is not limitless. The National Emergencies Act of 1976 adds various safeguards, one of which is a time limit to pronouncements of this nature. While this limit is currently six months, renewal by the president is both possible and common.

Of course, H1N1 isn't the only reason for an emergency declaration, and the president isn't the only one who can make such a designation. Regional states of emergency can be declared by an acting governor due to things like a natural disaster, as Hurricane Katrina was on Aug. 28, 2005, while war or similar threats are called by the president on a national level. On Sept 14, 2001, George Bush called a national emergency in response to the September 11 attacks, a declaration that has been continually renewed and is still in effect today. He would later do the same on a state level for the District of Columbia, citing concerns of severe overcrowding during Obama’s inauguration in January 2009.

While illnesses are normally designated public-health emergencies, in which hospitals and medical personal are subject to various procedures for providing information and disposing of bodies (among other things), President Obama’s motivation for escalating H1N1 to national-emergency levels can be found in his formal declaration: “The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.” This parallels the World Health Organization’s June upgrade of H1N1 from phase 5 to a phase 6 pandemic (the WHO’s highest level), meaning that while swine flu may lack the drama and spectacle of terrorism, it does constitute a real risk to the American public.

Although conditions like martial law (which would be allowed under any state of emergency) are still possible, the governmental changes invoked by Obama’s declarations have a far more benevolent intent. Hospitals are given the power to set up care sites outside of hospitals—in parking lots, schools, and the like─without federal interference. This not only slows the spread of the speedy virus but allows additional space for treatment and frees emergency rooms for more severe cases. While hospitals are generally limited to setting up alternate treatment centers within 250 yards of the hospital to qualify for federal funding, reimbursements for vaccinations will be given where they would otherwise be restricted. In some cases, hospitals can modify patient check-in procedures, minimizing paperwork and other time-consuming practices to allow faster treatment during busy times. Medicare, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance program requirements that might interfere with treatment, including seasonal rules and one-time vaccination coverage, can be changed or waived for the length of the emergency. Simply put, hospitals are given the ability to fight swine flu without getting wrapped in the red tape of federal procedure and, in turn, Americans will have faster treatment for and defense against the spread of the virus.

Swine flu is now responsible for 20,000 reported infections and more than 1,000 deaths (including approximately 100 children). The Brookings Institution claims that a nationwide school closure of four weeks could cost up to $47 billion dollars. While infectious-disease specialist Dr. Keith English says that the spread of infection has declined, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting cases of the flu in 46 states, costing people lost wages from time out of work and, in some cases, their lives. Until a vaccine becomes widely available (due to complications in the vaccine’s preparation, supplies are limited) the proactive stance Obama has taken in combating the virus could help to put a damper on the pandemic.