Swine Flu Outbreak Has `Overwhelmed' U.S. Health-Care System, Report Says

Source: Bloomberg

By Catherine Larkin

June 4 (Bloomberg) -- The swine flu outbreak has overwhelmed the U.S. health-care system, a report said.

Communication between government agencies and doctors isn’t well coordinated and the World Health Organization’s six-step pandemic-alert scale causes confusion, according to an analysis released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Trust for America’s Health and the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Biosecurity. Worried citizens flood emergency rooms while undocumented immigrants and the uninsured delay getting medical care, the report said.

The H1N1 influenza virus has spread to more than 11,000 people in the U.S. and caused 17 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta. WHO is at phase 5 of its alert scale, meaning a pandemic is imminent, even as the bug causes little more than a fever and cough in most patients. Researchers say it is critical to address vulnerabilities in the system before a crisis strikes.

“H1N1 is a real-world test of our initial emergency response capabilities,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit organization in Washington, in an e-mailed statement. “The country is significantly ahead of where we were a few years ago. However, the outbreak also revealed serious gaps in our nation’s preparedness.”

The report includes 10 recommendations for strengthening the public-health infrastructure, including halting job cuts in state and local health departments, providing care for uninsured Americans during an emergency and helping health-care facilities prepare for a surge in new patients.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=ah5TJ82PZ_T0

Considering that they, alone, added to the population half as many people as swine flu has killed, we aren't doing so bad!

What do the powers that be expect will happen with our broken, for-profit healthcare system? :shrug:

So far it has only affected kids and all have had symptoms no worse than those of the typical flu.

Last Saturday, he came down with flu symptoms and per the guidelines sent home, he can't go back until Monday. It has been mild, but because he has asthma, the inhaler is working over-time.

464,000 deaths if the entire country gets the bug. I assume a pandemic means that everyone gets it. The number of deaths should be higher because the disease should strengthen as it is fought, and the health-care infrastructure becomes overwhelmed. A half-million deaths next flu season might change peoples minds about the need for universal health care. What lucky timing!

This is the early, mild form and most people probably are not seeking treatment or being tested. Those that do get it now will probably have some immunities to the more serious form that could surface next flu season.

We will be in all kinds of trouble this fall! I know it is fun and cool to make fun of the media hype, I just hope it does not come back in the fall much like the 1918 H1N1 did.

Time will tell?

I would suck that millions would have to die before we get the message that our entire Health Care System is broke.

The same "what if" game can be played with every disease.

What if HIV became transmissable through the air?

What if we could get rabies by petting our dogs?

What if we could contract genital herpes by watching a Paris Hilton video?

See. It's fun to play make believe.

It's just not good public health policy or practice.

The one thing that the H1N1 epidemic (not) taught us is how easy it is to generate massive, world-wide hysteria in a 24/7 media world where the news-readers need something (anything) to read to keep the populations cowering in fear of .... something.

There are many like you who think any warning from the Federal Government is simply fear mongering. In your world why do we need a CDC or Dept. of Health? According to your extremely ignorant and frankly stupid comments any health warning is simply "what if". If you had taken just a few minutes to read and get slightly familiar with the science of understanding an outbreak of a new virus you would quickly see why the warning was issued. Officials do not have the luxury of "wait & see" when it comes to new viruses. It takes weeks before they can generate a profile of exactly what they are up against and not issuing a warning would have been extremely careless. I guess you support the Bush/Cheney method of damage control...Lets "wait & see". Why impede our lifestyle and of course business for some stupid flu bug we know nothing about...Seriously, what is the worse that could happen?

I guess you would have sat on the H1N1 info like China did SARS...Mexico should be and is getting much praise for what they did in contacting other countries.

I guess Climate Change is simply fear mongering as well? "What if" the sea levels rise? Why should we compromise our luxurious lifestyle for "what if" the climate is changing. Makes perfect sense!!

BTW- It is not "what if" it is called Science! You might want to Google the term and read about it. Kinda a neat process to problem solving.

That experience includes running programs at CDC and NIH, as well as establishing epidemiology programs in seven states and with seven Indian tribes.

As one of the epidemiologists who worked early on in the AIDS epidemic, I saw up-close what fear-mongering accomplishes. And it's not good public health.

If you want a copy of my resume, feel free to PM me. Othewise, keep your uninformed insults to yourself. We don't much go for that sort of thing here at DU, but I can direct you to some sites that do. (Just take a right ....)

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no ordinary flu. Manufactured I say.

Pandemic just means that it's spread around the world (I can't remember the exact definition).

because more than half of the school had the flu.
just closed for the summer altogether.
http://www.mesquiteisd.org/

annually get the regular flu, and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized due to the regular flu?

Something doesn't sound right.

Thinking they had the flu.

People can be stupid, fearful sheep.

n/t

This "pandemic" is a crock.
Maybe it will mutate to something worse.
Maybe 17 deaths is a "disaster" while an average of 35,000 a year is "normal".
Maybe George W, Bush will win the Nobel Peace prize.

This "pandemic" was cooked up by:
24 hour news
Organizations trying to increase their budgets
The gullibility of humans

In the Middle East they slaughtered pigs just because of the name of the flu. Americans decided that the end was near and have been closing schools despite the fact that this "pandemic" has killed one-twentieth of one percent of the deaths that the US AVERAGES in a typical year.

Trivia questions:
What was the flu that hit us last winter?
What was the flu that hit us the year before that?
How about the year before that?

You don't remember? Join the club. They resulted in 100,000 deaths in the US. We're already up to 17!

The US lost more people in driving accidents yesterday then this "pandemic" has taken but I don't recall anybody calling for a closing of the Federal Interstate Highway system.

The flu is part of life. Get used to it.

PS: Sorry for being obnoxious but I just don't understand why people are freaking out about this.

it seems people older than 50 may have some immunity but the kids and young adults do not. It is a new flu never seen. It is spreading like wildfire all over the world. It is relatively mild now but may mutate as it passes through more and more people and may become more virulent in the fall. The 1918 horrible pandemic started out just like this with a mild wave then came back with a killer wave. No one knows what is going to happen but they think the odds are against it fizzling out. Obama has asked for a couple of billion more to develop vaccines and to get ready. Congress is stalling.

We technically meet the criteria for a pandemic right now but so far it is not severe so the govts of the world are trying to get the WHO to stall declaring phase 6 because they have to roll out expensive plans.
If the worst happens it will make Katrina look like a walk in the park. If enough truckers get ill, there will be no groceries delivered to stores, if enough staff at power plants get ill there may be spotty power outages, it enough health care workers get ill the shaky system we have will collapse, and in 1918 they dug mass graves. The govt has been planning for a pandemic for over 5 years when the other likely candidate H5N1 reared it's head. They were expecting it to come from Asia but this one caught them by surprise.
No one will know for sure what will happen till it does. It is wise to be prepared for just in case.
This is why the medical people all over the world are worried.

on edit pandemic.gov has had this up for years
Community strategies that delay or reduce the impact of a pandemic (also called non-pharmaceutical interventions) may help reduce the spread of disease until a vaccine is available.

As you plan, it is important to think about the challenges that you might face, particularly if a pandemic is severe. It may take time to find the answers to these challenges. Below are some situations that could be caused by a severe pandemic and possible ways to address them. A checklist and fill-in sheets for family health information and emergency contact information have been prepared to help guide your planning and preparation.

Social Disruption May Be Widespread

Plan for the possibility that usual services may be disrupted. These could include services provided by hospitals and other health care facilities, banks, stores, restaurants, government offices, and post offices.
Prepare backup plans in case public gatherings, such as volunteer meetings and worship services, are canceled.
Consider how to care for people with special needs in case the services they rely on are not available.

Being Able to Work May Be Difficult or Impossible

Find out if you can work from home.
Ask your employer about how business will continue during a pandemic. (A Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist is available at www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/business/businesschecklist.html.)
Plan for the possible reduction or loss of income if you are unable to work or your place of employment is closed.
Check with your employer or union about leave policies.

Schools May Be Closed for an Extended Period of Time

Help schools plan for pandemic influenza. Talk to the school nurse or the health center. Talk to your teachers, administrators, and parent-teacher organizations.
Plan home learning activities and exercises. Have materials, such as books, on hand. Also plan recreational activities that your children can do at home.
Consider childcare needs.

Transportation Services May Be Disrupted

Think about how you can rely less on public transportation during a pandemic. For example, store food and other essential supplies so you can make fewer trips to the store.
Prepare backup plans for taking care of loved ones who are far away.
Consider other ways to get to work, or, if you can, work at home.

Be Prepared

Stock a supply of water and food. During a pandemic you may not be able to get to a store. Even if you can get to a store, it may be out of supplies. Public waterworks services may also be interrupted. Stocking supplies can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters. Store foods that:

are nonperishable (will keep for a long time) and don't require refrigeration
are easy to prepare in case you are unable to cook
require little or no water, so you can conserve water for drinking
See a checklist of items to have on hand for an extended stay at home.

according to the cdc. They are not testing everyone. It think their estimate is even higher now.

I know people in medical care professions work darned hard, but when you are on the outside, trying to get in, it is clear the whole system is a mess.

and adding a surge of just a couple dozen more patients a day to any one facility is the legendary straw.

with a tissue, or your elbow, or your t-shirt bottom. ANYTHING but your hand! It was so maddening, as the crisis escalated, to hear "expert" after "expert" tell us to "wash our hands"
Fine, wash all you want, it won't stop you from breathing in someone else's airborne virus droplets!! You may as well kiss them! (Ugh!)
(And furthermore, rant rave!)
(Don't get me STARTED about airplanes and germs...)

Almost everytime there is a local news story about a car accident, the people that died were not wearing their seat belt. It's astounding that this 5 second task is still not done by EVERY single soul. Granted, by them not wearing a seat belt, they are not 'causing' the other people to die as the free sneezers are...but my point is that we still just don't do what we should. Probably because Michelle Bachman has convinced people that Dying is just a part of nature as CO2 is. So why fight it?

What is it with swine flu and the republicans? In the seventies they were crying swine flu! and the sky is falling! Are they just determined to scare us with fake terrors?

the distribution across the country. Or, failing that, cases in our largest 10 cities.

with this article from today. The states are only testing hospitalized people or clusters of cases so the numbers are under counted . The cdc said they estimate way over a 100,000 people infected a week or so ago. I have no idea what their estimate is now.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-04-swine-flu_N.htm?csp=34

New swine flu deaths in 5 U.S. states
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Health officials in Wisconsin, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Utah reported deaths from swine flu on Thursday, and said all five patients had been diagnosed with other health problems.

The Wisconsin death, of a Milwaukee adult, was the state's first from the H1N1 virus. City Health Commissioner Bevan Baker would not release any details except to say that the person had a common underlying health condition that he would not specify.

FAQ: What you should know about swine flu
VACCINE: Feds to set aside $1 billion for development
INTERACTIVES: World map, how H1N1 emerged

Pennsylvania also reported its first death from the illness. The 55-year-old Berks County woman who died with the flu had significant underlying health issues, a health department spokeswoman said.

A 74-year-old man from Gurnee, Ill., died Tuesday, according to the Lake County Health Department. Officials said he had significant medical conditions that increased his vulnerability.

Officials in California said a 9-year-old Concord girl had been diagnosed with swine flu and had a bacterial infection before she died May 29. The patient who died in Utah also was under 18, according to Gary Edwards, executive director of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department.