For The Out-of-Touch: Swine Flu Outbreak
Posted by: Loren Coleman on April 26th, 2009
CNN Breaking News
April 26, 2009 1:12:06 PM EDT
– The federal government declares a public health emergency, as the number of cases of swine flu in the U.S. rises to 20.
Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
U.S. Declares Swine Flu Is ‘Public Health Emergency’…
Associated Press:
President Obama is receiving hourly updates on the outbreak.
When I was at the Beyond Reality Event on Saturday, at the Mount Washington Resort, I met and talked to several great, friendly people from such diverse locations as Los Angeles, Wisconsin, Rochester, San Diego, Dallas, Nebraska, New York City and even Buxton, Maine. Several of the planners, organizers, and staff from LA and New England, up there working the conference, have been on the mountain since April 17th.
Both attendees and staff all seemed totally unaware of the news of the “real world,” saying they had been isolated up in the hills for some time, not reading the news. In many ways, it reminded me of people on an expedition. It made me reflect on those times when I returned from a field trip, only to find some huge event had happened.
Anyway, anyone still up there or in other places where you haven’t read the papers or net in a few days, you may wish to be alerted to a bit of news. Especially if you are flying back home, well, a public health emergency has been declared nationally, while you were away.
Specifically, there are outbreaks of an apparently deadly strain of swine flu occurring in places like San Diego, maybe along the Mexican border in Texas, in Kansas, in New York City, and elsewhere.
The CDC has confirmed one case of swine flu in Ohio, two in Kansas and eight in New York City. There were already seven confirmed cases in California and two in Texas.
Mexico City is under an almost complete lock-down, with 68 people having died, and 1200 people with this flu. Ten people from New Zealand may have it, 4 people in Canada, and Spain is now reporting cases.
Felipe Solis Olguin, the director for the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Mexico City, stands before a large Aztec sculpture. He died from flu-like symptoms the day after giving Obama a tour. Condolences to his family. Photo: Robert van der Hilst/Corbis.
People in Mexico are wearing masks, and people flying home may see people in airports wearing masks.
You might want to be aware to how the world has changed in four days.
Random Posts
- Similar Phenomena:
Until things lighten up, I’ll be carrying hand sanitizer and surgical masks wherever I go. If things get worse, well, I’ve been stocking up on stuff by buying a few extra things at the store every few days for a few years now. I can last awhile.
Good luck to the rest of you guys if the balloon goes up.
This really worries me. I keep thinking about the horrific scenarios described in Stephen King’s The Stand. Not the supernatural elements, but the descriptions of the human race overwhelmed by a devastating virulent disease. I don’t know any living person who remembers the “Spanish Influenza” pandemic of 1918; my grandmother was a toddler at the time, but her (now deceased) sister remembered it well. She said that a person could be healthy one day and dead from choking pneumonia a few days later. Their mother (my great-grandmother) developed “sleeping sickness” after surviving the Spanish Flu, and she later died from it. The link between that flu pandemic and the encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness) has not been proven but is strongly suspected; however, I have also read that streptococcal bacteria are suspected as a cause of encephalitis lethargica. What is known for sure is that an outbreak of encephalitis lethargica followed the Spanish Flu outbreaks, in the same geographic areas, and that many people who developed the encephalitis lethargica had also survived the Spanish Flu.
During the 1918 flu pandemic (or pandemics; there were several waves of outbreaks), about half of the world population became infected with flu. The vast majority only experienced mild-to-severe flu symptoms, but about 20 % developed pneumonia, and about half of those who developed pneumonia died from it. The puzzling thing is that most of the deaths occured in young to middle-aged adults, who usually survive ordinary flu. Very young babies and toddlers, and elderly people, who are most likely to succumb to “ordinary” influenza strains, did not experience high mortality rates. This new strain of swine flu also appears to be fatal mainly in otherwise healthy young adults.
Perhaps we should call this outbreak, Señor Trips?
Reporting directly ‘from the trenches’ folks:
There’s a sense of worry and paranoia in a large part of the population, with pharmacies reporting many people rushing to buy face masks and desinfectant gel —there are some people having a field day selling face masks for twice their worth on the streets; my personal comment on such individuals would not be appropriate for this site :-/
However, I can tell you that not everyone walking on the street is wearing masks. Maybe some people feel the government is overrreacting; we’ve been grown so used to not trusting our own government, that even at the risk of a pandemic people are not willing to heed the words of the authorities.
Schools have been shut down until May 6th. All the city churches cancelled mass this Sunday and many public events were also postponed, canceled or re-scheduled —still, many people are still going to the strip malls shopping…
I’ll be reporting the most recent events on my blog at The Daily Grail.
Right now the my latest post dealt with the fact that President Obama might have been recklessly exposed to the outbreak on his recent visit to Mexico. The director of the National Mseum of Anthropology that acted as host for him at the reception dinner held in his honor died last Saturday of pneumonia —although the authorities have been quick to state that his death was due to bacterial pneumonia and complications from diabetes. Nevertheless, I hardly think the White House would have allowed Obama to put one foot inside Mexican territory had they been infomed of the possible danger 2 weeks ago.
The borders are not closed, but if you or someone you know is planning to visit Mexico, I advise you to change your plans; and if you know someone who recently visited Mexico, tell that person to have an immediate check up with their doctor.
Here are more specifics on the Obama Mexican interaction mentioned by red pill:
wondering what to do about the mexican guys that work for us. They haven’t been to mexico recently, but family members may have. I guess just make sure they are informed.
Great- I’m scheduled to go to New Zealand this weekend. Dang- it figures that my trip will probably be cancelled because of some sick pigs in Mexico. ARGH.
I love this blog but don’t usually post. Most of the time I feel anything that needed to be said was said by many of the informed posters here. However this topic I did a bit of reading on.
Simply put the Swine Flu “Pandemic” was blown out of proportion.
-According to the CDC something like 60,000 people died of normal strains of influenza in 2006.
-All of the people who have died had severe underlying health conditions. In fact there are few “Died of Swine Flu” articles where it was later said the person did not die of Swine Flu but of said condition.
-For reasons I will leave alone the goal is to do mass vaccinations. The WHO even changed the rules of Pandemic Level Six to support the current non crisis.
-The Company (Baxter) working on the Vaccine has been caught on the very least making several mistakes; selling AIDs tainted vaccines and distributing Vaccines that contained live bird flu virus and regular influenza. This could have possibly caused a hybrid strain which would have been as dangerous as the swine flu is being made out to be.
Lets not forget that years before we were being told the same thing about SARs, and the Bird Flu. This is all fearmongering and an attempt to Vaccinate the public.
Take it easy.