LaurieGarrett.com

DAY FIFTY THREE:

Nov. 2:

I don't have much to say today. I'm tired. We're all tired: Tired of anthrax. Tired of fear. Tired of vigilance Tired of sadness. Tired of bad news. Tired of deadlines. Tired of talking to tired people.

Tilt.

Having been in five airports in two days (La Guardia, National, Dulles, Columbus and Pittsburgh, for those of you who are keeping score) I've seen plenty of spent faces. On the plane idling on the Pittsburgh runway the passenger in front of me explained that she was finding herself nodding out, fast asleep, feeling as if her body were made of lead. She was on our plane, she explained, because she fell asleep in her seat at the gate for her Charlotte flight, slept through the announcement, slept through her name being paged and missed her flight. Now, she said, the only way to get home was via two more hopper flights.

In the Columbus Airport another woman told me she was on her seventh plane in five days, and two other flights for which she had been ticketed were cancelled, forcing her to be very creative in her travels. The airlines, claiming impending bankruptcy, are canceling flights at the last minute if less than 10% of the seats are sold and moving passengers into prop jets and smaller planes if less than a third of the seats are sold. That happened to me for the Dulles-to-Columbus flight on United, originally scheduled for a Boeing jet. The 30 passengers were moved to a turboprop Jetstream plane that bumped and tossed its way to Ohio. The woman I talked to in the Columbus Airport was exhausted, having been on one such flight after another for days, in addition to facing four intensive security checks in which she was singled out and compelled to unpack all of her belongings. Four times in seven days. The bags under her eyes betrayed the toll it had taken.

November is a tiring time in "normal" years because the days shorten radically, skies are cloudy and winter is approaching. This year November brings us tiring campaign debates between Bloomberg and Green. It brings us tiring Taliban. And it brings us exhausting, unsolved anthrax investigations. On Capitol Hill Sen. Tom Harkin, speaking in a voice of deep fatigue, said, "I think what we most have to fear is not the terrorists, but the viruses. The viruses that are coming."

The scale of the public health catastrophe exhausts the Senators. They woke up a month ago to realize America's public health system is a mess, and now are so overwhelmed by the complexity and scale of the repair problem that they seem to grapple for words like blind men trying to find their way in alien territory. "There really is no blueprint right now? No cookie cutter approach that you can say here is what you do if a bioterrorist events has occurredÉis that right," Harkin asked.

"Sen. Harkin said we're on the right track, and I think we are, but we're a long way from the station. We're a long way from the station," exclaimed Sen. Arlen Spector. "The first responsibility of government is the security of the peopleÉSo I think what we really have to do is face up to the failures...I think the American people have a right to be very dissatisfied with what we've done," to our public health system.

Exhausted scientists answer. Exhausted scientists and physicians investigate. Exhausted reporters cover. Exhausted audiences absorb.

I have made mistakes in the last week, factual errors. Any factual error I publish deeply disturbs me; they are even more upsetting in the context of public anxiety and fear. They were stupid errors, the results of simply working too hard, under too many deadlines, for too long, with too little sleep. My bloopers are of minor consequence, my stress of comparatively low level - both the consequences of mistakes and scale of stress on our public health workers is a log level greater. There is on infectious disease physician on the payroll of the Boston Department of Health. Thirteen states have no computer systems linking offices within their public health systems. No wonder the system is tired.

Senator Robert Byrd said today that his mother died in the 1918 Swine Flu epidemic. He asked the scientists what would be the greatest threat to Americans: a bioterrorist flu, smallpox or anthrax release?

"A microbe that can be transmitted from one person to another is inherently more dangerous," Tony Fauci told the Senator.

The political leadership of America is just beginning to get it. Their eyes are opening to the reality that we are talking about a 1918 scale pandemic, deliberately released with terror as its intent. They still don't fully understand, however, that as exhausted, scared and broke as the nation's public health responders are right now as a result of a few anthrax-laced letters the stress on the system today pales in comparison to what a true epidemic would inflict.

As John Lennon wrote: "I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink.

I'm so tired; my mind is on the blink.

I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink - no, no, no!

I'll give you everything you want for little piece of mind!"

Get some sleep.

Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant.

Laurie Garrett



DAY FIFTY THREE: Return to Index Nov. 2: I don't have much to say today. I'm tired. We're all tired: Tired of anthrax. Tired of fear. Tired of vigilance Tired of sadness. Tired of bad news. Tired of deadlines. Tired of talking to tired people. Tilt. Having been in five airports in two days (La Guardia, National, Dulles, Columbus and Pittsburgh, for those of you who are keeping score) I've seen plenty of spent faces. On the plane idling on the Pittsburgh runway the passenger in front of me explained that she was finding herself nodding out, fast asleep, feeling as if her body were made of lead. She was on our plane, she explained, because she fell asleep in her seat at the gate for her Charlotte flight, slept through the announcement, slept through her name being paged and missed her flight. Now, she said, the only way to get home was via two more hopper flights. In the Columbus Airport another woman told me she was on her seventh plane in five days, and two other flights for which she had been ticketed were cancelled, forcing her to be very creative in her travels. The airlines, claiming impending bankruptcy, are canceling flights at the last minute if less than 10% of the seats are sold and moving passengers into prop jets and smaller planes if less than a third of the seats are sold. That happened to me for the Dulles-to-Columbus flight on United, originally scheduled for a Boeing jet. The 30 passengers were moved to a turboprop Jetstream plane that bumped and tossed its way to Ohio. The woman I talked to in the Columbus Airport was exhausted, having been on one such flight after another for days, in addition to facing four intensive security checks in which she was singled out and compelled to unpack all of her belongings. Four times in seven days. The bags under her eyes betrayed the toll it had taken. November is a tiring time in "normal" years because the days shorten radically, skies are cloudy and winter is approaching. This year November brings us tiring campaign debates between Bloomberg and Green. It brings us tiring Taliban. And it brings us exhausting, unsolved anthrax investigations. On Capitol Hill Sen. Tom Harkin, speaking in a voice of deep fatigue, said, "I think what we most have to fear is not the terrorists, but the viruses. The viruses that are coming." The scale of the public health catastrophe exhausts the Senators. They woke up a month ago to realize America's public health system is a mess, and now are so overwhelmed by the complexity and scale of the repair problem that they seem to grapple for words like blind men trying to find their way in alien territory. "There really is no blueprint right now? No cookie cutter approach that you can say here is what you do if a bioterrorist events has occurredÉis that right," Harkin asked. "Sen. Harkin said we're on the right track, and I think we are, but we're a long way from the station. We're a long way from the station," exclaimed Sen. Arlen Spector. "The first responsibility of government is the security of the peopleÉSo I think what we really have to do is face up to the failures...I think the American people have a right to be very dissatisfied with what we've done," to our public health system. Exhausted scientists answer. Exhausted scientists and physicians investigate. Exhausted reporters cover. Exhausted audiences absorb. I have made mistakes in the last week, factual errors. Any factual error I publish deeply disturbs me; they are even more upsetting in the context of public anxiety and fear. They were stupid errors, the results of simply working too hard, under too many deadlines, for too long, with too little sleep. My bloopers are of minor consequence, my stress of comparatively low level - both the consequences of mistakes and scale of stress on our public health workers is a log level greater. There is on infectious disease physician on the payroll of the Boston Department of Health. Thirteen states have no computer systems linking offices within their public health systems. No wonder the system is tired. Senator Robert Byrd said today that his mother died in the 1918 Swine Flu epidemic. He asked the scientists what would be the greatest threat to Americans: a bioterrorist flu, smallpox or anthrax release? "A microbe that can be transmitted from one person to another is inherently more dangerous," Tony Fauci told the Senator. The political leadership of America is just beginning to get it. Their eyes are opening to the reality that we are talking about a 1918 scale pandemic, deliberately released with terror as its intent. They still don't fully understand, however, that as exhausted, scared and broke as the nation's public health responders are right now as a result of a few anthrax-laced letters the stress on the system today pales in comparison to what a true epidemic would inflict. As John Lennon wrote: "I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink. I'm so tired; my mind is on the blink. I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink - no, no, no! I'll give you everything you want for little piece of mind!" Get some sleep. Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant. Laurie Garrett