CDC Estimates H1N1 Outbreak During Biden-Obama Years Left 12,000 Americans Dead
Former Vice President Joe Biden has attacked President Donald Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is the likely Democratic presidential candidate throwing stones from a glass house?
Judging by an estimate the Centers for Disease Control made in 2010, back when the country was fighting the H1N1 flu, the answer may be, “Yes.”
“CDC estimates that between 43 million and 88 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April 2009 and March 13, 2010. The mid-level in this range is about 60 million people infected with 2009 H1N1,” stated the report, released on April 19, 2010.
The report went on to estimate that between those dates, the number of deaths attributed to H1N1 in the U.S. was between 8,720 and 18,050, with a midpoint of 12,270.
Americans who follow politics will remember there was a Democrat named Barack Obama in the presidency in 2010, who had a second in command named Joe Biden.
At PJ Media, author and columnist Matt Margolis noted, “Despite calls from members of Congress to do so, the Obama administration refused to restrict travel with Mexico or close the border.”
At the time, according to The Associated Press, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said, “Closing our nation’s borders is not merited here.”
She went on to claim that such a border closure would have “very little” effect, if it had any effect at all.
Let’s see just how her claim matches up to what President Trump did in response to the emergence of the coronavirus.
By comparison, as of Thursday, the CDC estimated a total of 10,442 cases of coronavirus infection in the United States with 150 deaths since Jan. 21.
It should be noted that the CDC also tracked four cases prior to Jan. 21, with the first two being reported on Jan. 14.
On Jan. 31, Trump issued a travel ban from China.
Looking at what happened in the two months since the first two cases were reported on January 14, it appears that Trump made the right move.
You don’t just have to listen to pundits or humble journalists.
Take it from the World Health Organization.
During a Feb. 18 new conference, Dr. Sylvie Briand, director of the WHO pandemic and epidemic diseases department, said, “So modelisation has shown that those measures on movement restriction have delayed the dissemination of the outbreak for two or three days within China and a few weeks outside China, two, three weeks.”
In other words, Trump’s Jan. 31 decision about the China travel ban may very well have saved lives here in the United States, and the same could be said for the restrictions involving Europe.
To be fair, there are a lot of other variables.
H1N1 and COVID-19 are two very different diseases.
Given that H1N1 originated in Mexico, according to the CDC, it very could be that those crossing the border illegally would have brought it here anyhow.
Then again, given what we know about China’s efforts to cover up COVID-19, COVID-19 could have been here for a while, and we were none the wiser.
As likely Democratic nominee for the presidency, and as the vice president during an administration that failed to close the U.S. border against another pandemic a decade ago, Biden’s attempts at Monday morning quarterback are particularly galling.
For instance, as Breitbart reported Wednesday, Biden made a big show of demanding Trump invoke the powers available to him under the Defense Production Act — a step Trump had already taken.
When Joe Biden slams Donald Trump’s response to the current crisis, he is once again proving he isn’t quite in touch with reality.
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