Maryland Unprepared for Swine Flu?

I just received this email from the Maryland Senate Republican Caucus about the Swine Flu Epidemic. I'm not going to get into a discussion of Republican vs. Democrat here, but there do seem to be some valid points made here. You can decide for yourself.
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While the major media in Maryland was lauding Governor O’Malley for establishing a "swine flu command center," they failed to uncover Maryland’s true status of being unprepared for a major medical emergency.

True to form for Maryland’s media, they accepted without question the puffed-up press releases and press conference hyperbole issued from the gubernatorial media relations machine.

If they looked behind the "made-for-media" imagery, they would find that Maryland ranks near the bottom of states in emergency preparedness for a flu pandemic.

As reported in the Washington Times today (Maryland lags in its antiviral stockpile), a study for the non-partisan Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that:

* Maryland was tied for lowest in the country by completing only 5 of 10 benchmarks for medical disaster preparedness.

* Maryland officials had purchased less than half of the federally subsidized antiviral medications available to prepare for a pandemic flu outbreak.

* Maryland’s supply of 476,000 doses of antiviral medication (one for every 11.8 residents) pales in comparison to neighboring Virginia (one for every 7.4 residents).

Did Governor O’Malley’s poor budget policies over the last three years lead to misplaced priorities that under-funded medical disaster preparedness?

The Administration responded by sending out David Paulson, former Maryland Democrat Party flack now positioned at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, who slammed the study as being "faulty and incomplete."

For a link to the report, visit our website: www.mdsenategop.com.