City by the Lake.org, The Voice of Michigan City, Indiana

Southsider2k12

Oct 23 2009, 10:36 AM

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=45358.04

QUOTE

H1N1 reaches pandemic in county

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

LA PORTE - The La Porte County Health Department has reported incidents of H1N1 in the county have reached the pandemic stage, triggering the opening of the Emergency Operations Center in the county complex Thursday.

The EOC was opened so that professionals from many fields can work together to implement the plan created three years ago when a flu pandemic was predicted. The pandemic response team ensures that the best possible actions are taken to protect La Porte County residents, according to John Jones, director of the Michigan City Emergency Management Agency.

"This is a partially activated EOC." Jones said. "Paul Trost, administrator of the La Porte County Health Department, is the EOC incident commander. We coordinate EOC activities so that we have the same message and are making active progress."

The Health Department reports 98 percent of those seeking treatment for flu symptoms have tested positive for H1N1. Over the last three weeks, the number of health care workers in Indiana who are off work with cases of H1N1 has increased 48 percent.

No vaccine for H1N1 is available yet for the public in La Porte County and, according to an EOC spokesperson, state health officials have been unable to determine when the vaccine will be available.

A flu clinic at Working Well, 4111 Franklin St., will provide Tamiflu for people of all ages who have a fever and other flu symptoms. The clinic will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Saturday.

A special clinic for La Porte County health workers at Health Partners Medical Group, 1225 Coolspring Ave., will provide FluMist from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

The EOC is a countywide team that handles emergency situations that occur in La Porte County, including pandemic flu.

Questions about the H1N1 vaccine should be directed to the La Porte County Health Department at (219) 326-6808, Ext. 2200, or by e-mail to H1N1@laportecounty.org. Current local flu information is available at www.laportecounty.org.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

mcstumper

Oct 23 2009, 12:31 PM

The WHO (the World Health Organization, not Pete Townshend) reported today that the swine flu pandemic has killed 5,000 people GLOBALLY.

Last year over 37,000 people died in car accidents, 75,000 from alcohol related diseases, and 420,000 died from smoking. Just in the United States. Two nights ago I drove to Holly's, sat in the smokey bar and had a beer with a friend. Can you imagine if I had applied a proportional level of hysteria to my night out as people have to this flu outbreak? By all accounts I should have been a complete basket case.

Can we stop with this now?

Mack

Oct 23 2009, 05:33 PM

QUOTE(mcstumper @ Oct 23 2009, 01:31 PM)

The WHO (the World Health Organization, not Pete Townshend) reported today that the swine flu pandemic has killed 5,000 people GLOBALLY.

Last year over 37,000 people died in car accidents, 75,000 from alcohol related diseases, and 420,000 died from smoking. Just in the United States. Two nights ago I drove to Holly's, sat in the smokey bar and had a beer with a friend. Can you imagine if I had applied a proportional level of hysteria to my night out as people have to this flu outbreak? By all accounts I should have been a complete basket case.

Can we stop with this now?

My 9 year old autistic son is having a heck of a time with this flu as we speak. The school at which I work has upwards of 20% of the grade schoolers out sick... Vomit, tears, pain.....etc.
No big deal though.

Unreal.

Tom Burns

Oct 24 2009, 02:06 AM

QUOTE(Mack @ Oct 23 2009, 06:33 PM)

My 9 year old autistic son is having a heck of a time with this flu as we speak. The school at which I work has upwards of 20% of the grade schoolers out sick... Vomit, tears, pain.....etc.
No big deal though.

Unreal.

I am interested in your experience with autism in general. Our eldest daughter, Anna, is near completion of a PHD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Maryland, dealing with autistic children. Her son is autistic. She is a Rogers High graduate.

mcstumper

Oct 24 2009, 01:14 PM

QUOTE(Mack @ Oct 23 2009, 06:33 PM)

My 9 year old autistic son is having a heck of a time with this flu as we speak. The school at which I work has upwards of 20% of the grade schoolers out sick... Vomit, tears, pain.....etc.
No big deal though.

Unreal.

I am sorry to hear about your son. I hope he gets to feeling better.

JHeath

Oct 24 2009, 09:43 PM

I'm feeling a lot like mcstumper. While I agree that it's awful, its another strain of an influenza virus.
Has everyone forgotten about the bird flu and equine flu? We were concerned about those as well...but we came through it.

If more people, including kids, would just take the time to wash their hands and practice good hygeine habits, maybe this wouldn't spread so fast.

As for your son, I hope he gets well soon. Having a typically developing child who is ill is tough enough. But trying to get a child with a developmental delay to undersatnd can be quite a challenge. (I have an 11-year old with Down Syndrome; and I coach little league, soccer, and bowling for kids with special needs).

Mack

Oct 25 2009, 08:26 AM

In the spirit of fairness I apologize for my "snarkyness" at the opinion of Mcstumper. But I honestly would like to understand what that opinion is.

QUOTE

Can you imagine if I had applied a proportional level of hysteria to my night out as people have to this flu outbreak?

I dont see or hear any hysteria. It seems to me to be the only fact based news we have. This is the worst flu season on record so far isnt it?
Maybe Im looking too hard for ONE thing that we can all be on the same side on as a country.
Once again sorry for the snark stump.
I will have that autism post later today.

mcstumper

Oct 25 2009, 08:15 PM

QUOTE(Mack @ Oct 25 2009, 09:26 AM)

In the spirit of fairness I apologize for my "snarkyness" at the opinion of Mcstumper. But I honestly would like to understand what that opinion is.
I dont see or hear any hysteria. It seems to me to be the only fact based news we have. This is the worst flu season on record so far isnt it?
Maybe Im looking too hard for ONE thing that we can all be on the same side on as a country.
Once again sorry for the snark stump.
I will have that autism post later today.

I have two kids, so I understand how miserable and stressful it is when the flu makes it's rounds. My opinion is that this is simply a marginally more severe strain of flu that hits around this time every year. The simple fact is that the statistics aren't there to justify the level of "concern" that I have seen expressed. When I say hysteria I mean things such as "Obama declares National Emergency" or "we should close all the schools for two weeks until this passes". I am not ragging on the President. I understand that he did it speed the process of getting vaccines distributed. But that doesn't stop the media from spraying it across the headlines in such a way as to further stress the public. If the New York Times came out with a headline tomorrow that said "Driving Cars, Secondhand Smoke, Obesity, and Alcohol are putting Americans at great risk of Death", we would yawn because we have become desensitized to these real, tangible risks. So, luckily we get a new strain of flu that seemed to start strong in Mexico (remember the 150 people dead in one weekend - a number that kept getting revised down and down), but which has been absolutely nothing compared to real flu epidemics, like the Spanish Flu of 1918.
I would love for there to be SOMETHING that we could all get behind in this country. I was really hoping it would be the 2016 Olympics. Something will come come along...

Southsider2k12

Oct 25 2009, 09:52 PM

QUOTE(mcstumper @ Oct 23 2009, 01:31 PM)

The WHO (the World Health Organization, not Pete Townshend) reported today that the swine flu pandemic has killed 5,000 people GLOBALLY.

Last year over 37,000 people died in car accidents, 75,000 from alcohol related diseases, and 420,000 died from smoking. Just in the United States. Two nights ago I drove to Holly's, sat in the smokey bar and had a beer with a friend. Can you imagine if I had applied a proportional level of hysteria to my night out as people have to this flu outbreak? By all accounts I should have been a complete basket case.

Can we stop with this now?

Some might even call it... a national emergency.