But, the move allows federal and state governments easier access to flu tests and medications, she said. Homeland Security Secretary Ginni Napolitano said the declaration was a precautionary measure, and did not mean that the threat posed by the outbreak was worsening. It allows us to use medication and diagnostic tests that we might not otherwise be able to use, and it releases funds for the acquisition of additional antivirals," Napolitano said during a press conference at the White House.

Napolitano said the federal government had 50 million doses of the antiviral flu medication Tamiflu, and a quarter of those doses were being released to states, if needed, "particularly prioritizing the states where we already have confirmed incidence of the. This is standard operating procedure, and allows us to free up federal, state and local agencies and their resources for prevention and mitigation. "That [a public health emergency] sounds more severe than it really is.

Health officials declared a public health emergency in response to the swine flu outbreak, as the number of confirmed cases nationwide caryl to 20.