As one who has experience firsthand the ravages of the flu this season, all I can say is that there is no way to adequately prepare your family against an outbreak of this size, notwithstanding a pandemic.
Not to be critical of the local public health officials and medical personnel, the current situation on many college campuses provide a microcosmic study of the impact of a purportedly mild version of H1N1. Testing as to what type flu the patient is experiencing has come to a virtual standstill, overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. Rather than suspend classes until the vaccine was available, many college administrators made a decision, based on budget considerations and reassurances by the government that the current strain of H1N1 was mild, to go about business as usual. The only accommodation some administrators have made was to allow an excused absence for the student, and employees can use paid sick leave; however, if you are an unclassified or nonunion employee and do not have a paid sick leave benefit, you are simply out of luck. As a result, you have illness infecting the campuses at an alarming rate.
Antivirals and distribution of the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine are so limited that large populations do not have access to these drugs necessary to prevent or mitigate the flu’s effect. The net result is the continued transmission and infection of these illnesses to healthy individuals who could have avoided and stopped the H1N1 virus in its’ first round. Yes, first round! As more and more individuals become infected, the viruses is given time and opportunity to mutate—a scenario that occurred in the 1918 swine flu pandemic.
Which begs the question of how effective is a pandemic preparedness plan that doesn’t result in resurrecting quarantines?
But As For Me…
Perhaps pandemic preparedness is an oxymoron. From the first cases found in the United States after the outbreak in Mexico, the time for preparedness had a narrow window of opportunity to come to grips with this potential devastating virus. Since our government failed to address the situation boldly and decisively, weighing in on the economic effects over the nation’s physical health, we now face a situation not of preparedness, but of recovery.
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News from the web:
Mild Cases Of H1N1 Raising Havoc!
by admin on October 13, 2009 · 0 comments
in Commentary, Economy, Education, H1N1 Pandemic, Health Care, Obama, Reformed Liberal
As one who has experience firsthand the ravages of the flu this season, all I can say is that there is no way to adequately prepare your family against an outbreak of this size, notwithstanding a pandemic.
Not to be critical of the local public health officials and medical personnel, the current situation on many college campuses provide a microcosmic study of the impact of a purportedly mild version of H1N1. Testing as to what type flu the patient is experiencing has come to a virtual standstill, overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. Rather than suspend classes until the vaccine was available, many college administrators made a decision, based on budget considerations and reassurances by the government that the current strain of H1N1 was mild, to go about business as usual. The only accommodation some administrators have made was to allow an excused absence for the student, and employees can use paid sick leave; however, if you are an unclassified or nonunion employee and do not have a paid sick leave benefit, you are simply out of luck. As a result, you have illness infecting the campuses at an alarming rate.
Antivirals and distribution of the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine are so limited that large populations do not have access to these drugs necessary to prevent or mitigate the flu’s effect. The net result is the continued transmission and infection of these illnesses to healthy individuals who could have avoided and stopped the H1N1 virus in its’ first round. Yes, first round! As more and more individuals become infected, the viruses is given time and opportunity to mutate—a scenario that occurred in the 1918 swine flu pandemic.
Which begs the question of how effective is a pandemic preparedness plan that doesn’t result in resurrecting quarantines?
But As For Me…
Perhaps pandemic preparedness is an oxymoron. From the first cases found in the United States after the outbreak in Mexico, the time for preparedness had a narrow window of opportunity to come to grips with this potential devastating virus. Since our government failed to address the situation boldly and decisively, weighing in on the economic effects over the nation’s physical health, we now face a situation not of preparedness, but of recovery.
Tagged as: 1918 Swine Flu, butasforme.com, College campuses, Flu Overloads Health Care System, H1N1, Health Care, Journal of American Medicine, Obama Adminstration, Pandemic, pandemic preparedness, Reformed Liberal, Seasonal flu, Severity of H1N1 Flu, swine flu