I've just returned from Texas with the 'flu. There's an underreported pandemic going on, with about half the people I've called or worked with in Texas and Florida either ill or dealing with sick...
There's an underreported pandemic going on, with about half the people I've called or worked with in Texas and Florida either ill or dealing with sick family members, including some hospitalizations. (Granted, it's a healthcare population, and we tend to have the highest exposures.)
The data gathering is erratic right now, mostly through individual state health departments. In Florida, with a high proportion of elderly residents, mortality-morbidity numbers are showing peaks at up to 10% of deaths related to influenza. Neither the of the dominant
strains (Influenza A/Michigan, Influenza B/Yamazaki) are especially severe, fortunately. However, any 'flu is bad 'flu for children, the elderly, and people with underlying chronic diseases like asthma or diabetes.
At least one of the current strains has an atypical presentation - it starts like a day or two of head cold-type symptoms, with lots of sneezing to spread widely, before the high fever, cough and body aches strike. That's the kind I got, and despite all the hand sanitizer, wearing a mask on the plane, etc., I shudder to think of the number of people I may have inadvertently infected.
So, get your shots, don't go out if you're sick, and hope that nothing more serious occurs while the U.S. Federal disease surveillance and prevention infrastructure teams are away.
Note also that the CDC isn't just a resource for U.S. citizens, it's one of the most important disease control organizations in the world. As the article notes, MERS monitoring is critical; also, there's still pandemic Ebola in parts of Africa.
Donald Trump may not be smart enough to know what he's breaking with the U.S. government shutdowns, but furloughing CDC staff guarantees that he's got even more blood on his hands. Missing early disease warnings could bring the number of those deaths into horrifying visibility.
Even if it is, it adds nothing to the discussion. Just because one person, or one community is not sick does not mean that being unable to report (or a reduced ability to report) a spreading...
Even if it is, it adds nothing to the discussion. Just because one person, or one community is not sick does not mean that being unable to report (or a reduced ability to report) a spreading illness to the government is not an issue.
I'm at the south end of the state and Broward/Dade counties are hot zones on the current Florida Health Department report. But a third of the cases are healthcare workers, and as I said, it's a...
I'm at the south end of the state and Broward/Dade counties are hot zones on the current Florida Health Department report.
But a third of the cases are healthcare workers, and as I said, it's a population with high risk of exposure. In any given trip, I may visit two or three clinics or hospitals a day, so YMMV. Ideally, we'd be knowledgeable enough not to spread it back into the community, but my experience with the slow-burning symptoms suggests it's going to spread widely.
I've just returned from Texas with the 'flu.
There's an underreported pandemic going on, with about half the people I've called or worked with in Texas and Florida either ill or dealing with sick family members, including some hospitalizations. (Granted, it's a healthcare population, and we tend to have the highest exposures.)
The data gathering is erratic right now, mostly through individual state health departments. In Florida, with a high proportion of elderly residents, mortality-morbidity numbers are showing peaks at up to 10% of deaths related to influenza. Neither the of the dominant
strains (Influenza A/Michigan, Influenza B/Yamazaki) are especially severe, fortunately. However, any 'flu is bad 'flu for children, the elderly, and people with underlying chronic diseases like asthma or diabetes.
At least one of the current strains has an atypical presentation - it starts like a day or two of head cold-type symptoms, with lots of sneezing to spread widely, before the high fever, cough and body aches strike. That's the kind I got, and despite all the hand sanitizer, wearing a mask on the plane, etc., I shudder to think of the number of people I may have inadvertently infected.
So, get your shots, don't go out if you're sick, and hope that nothing more serious occurs while the U.S. Federal disease surveillance and prevention infrastructure teams are away.
Note also that the CDC isn't just a resource for U.S. citizens, it's one of the most important disease control organizations in the world. As the article notes, MERS monitoring is critical; also, there's still pandemic Ebola in parts of Africa.
Donald Trump may not be smart enough to know what he's breaking with the U.S. government shutdowns, but furloughing CDC staff guarantees that he's got even more blood on his hands. Missing early disease warnings could bring the number of those deaths into horrifying visibility.
Killing off the elderly isnt wise for Cheeto because didnt a large majority of the elderly vote for him?
I'd like to provide a counter anecdote to your's: I live in Florida and no one I know is sick.
Even if it is, it adds nothing to the discussion. Just because one person, or one community is not sick does not mean that being unable to report (or a reduced ability to report) a spreading illness to the government is not an issue.
Just tag it as noise and move along.
I'm at the south end of the state and Broward/Dade counties are hot zones on the current Florida Health Department report.
But a third of the cases are healthcare workers, and as I said, it's a population with high risk of exposure. In any given trip, I may visit two or three clinics or hospitals a day, so YMMV. Ideally, we'd be knowledgeable enough not to spread it back into the community, but my experience with the slow-burning symptoms suggests it's going to spread widely.