Anyone pulling kids out of school or thinking about it? (Houston: daycare, home)
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Is anyone pulling their kids out of school? I read today that Ft. Worth school system up in Dallas closed their schools and Kirby Hall here in town closed to prevent any spread of the flu. Sounds smart to me. Why aren't the districts around here, taking a more preventative measure? Any of you parents worried and feel that the school should just end the year early?
No.
Last year, my son's class of 18 was down to 4 because of the flu. School didn't close then, so why now?
Besides, we'd just have to make it up in June....so, no.
I was living in Toronto during the SARS outbreak. Once they got a handle on everything the strain just petered out.
I don't think there is any need for mass closings as long as there are no reported cases in the specific school. Once a case is reported or suspected, everyone with possible contact should quarantine themselves.
The biggest problem in trying to contain something like this is people who still go on with their daily lives once they or family members start experiencing symptoms. If you think you are getting the flue, stay home, and keep the rest of your family home as well. This will only work if employers and schools are supportive of this.
If you have symptoms and HAVE to go out, wear a mask. Healthy people wearing masks have little impact on stopping the spread. The masks should be on the sick ones so they stop sneezing and coughing the virus all over the place.
I have not heard too much public education on the matter so far. Everything has been geared towards mass closings.
Some common sense things that people in Toronto learned.
- Wash your hands a lot. Use an anti-bacterial hand cleaner. Carry a small one with you at all times.
- Carrying disinfectant wipes is also a good idea. Wipe down things like ATM keypads before you use them.
- Don't share food, drink bottles, or utensils.
- Don't take finger food from a common bowl.
- For the same reason, don't share your cell phone.
- It may sound impolite, but, refrain from shaking hands until this gets cleared up.
Our company just announced increased cleaning schedules for all surfaces that are frequently touched.
This is news wagging .. good ole fashioned regular flu consistently kills and IS killing more ..
Correct. The regular flu kills 36,000 people a year in the U.S. Granted, a lot of them are old folks wheezing their last breath in a nursing home, but many are not old and frail and just got really sick and couldn't recover.
Our kids' school didn't close, but the track meet this weekend is cancelled. We have a huge volleyball tournament in Houston Sat/Sun also, and are waiting to see if the city of Houstin shuts it down. Otherwise, we're all planning to go while being mindful of the extra hygein precautions, mainly washing hands a lot.
This is news wagging .. good ole fashioned regular flu consistently kills and IS killing more
Yeah, pretty much, there are a few differences...you and I, with mature immune systems, are more at risk the small children (whose immune system can't tell the difference between and old and new flu strain and reacts the same) or the elderly (whose immune system may underreact, which in this case works out better). It appears that the mature, healthy immunes system overreacts to completely 'new' strains and actually is likely to cause a higher percentage of deaths, as seen in the unusual number of healthy adult deaths in Mexico. There are some good threads (one stickied in the Texas forum, many in the Health forum) with some good and some pretty funny (in a sad sort of way) discussion.
But in the end, it is the flu. We are limiting our childs trips with us to the grocery store, since she usually rides in the cart, but she is continuing to go to daycare.
Regular flu has a mortality rate of .25%, the 1918 flu which killed 50 million people had a mortality rate of only 2.5%. So, in reality, only 10x's as deadly as something that kills 1 in 400 people.
incidently, the Mexican version was showing a 6% mortality rate. the good news is the number of deaths has dropped significantly with the introduction of anti-viral medicines.
in the US, we've seen 1 in 100 cases end in death, suggesting a 1% mortality rate with good medicine.
moral of the story? if you get sick, don't hesitate to go to the doctor.
moral of the story? if you get sick, don't hesitate to go to the doctor.
As someone who almost died from getting a staph infection in a hospital, I would hesitate to go to the doctor if you get sick. It's ironic, but there you go.
If I get this thing, I'm riding it out at home no matter how bad it gets. I'll never step foot in a hospital again if I can help it.
My boss' friend, who's a doctor in Wimberly sent him the below email (which he forwarded to me). Thought you might be interested:
After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in Comal County, Heather suggested I send an update to everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media.
Some of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know..
- The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset
- Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual)
- Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no "herd immunity," so the "attack rate" is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The "clinical attack rate" may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this.
- The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators.
What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed.
- Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis.
- There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not "possible" cases -- actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each "confirmed" case right now.
- During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory.
- I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn't, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be cancelled for 10 days.
- I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk..
- Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don't think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu.
- You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER's south of here are becoming overwhelmed -- and I mean that -- already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger.
- It appears that this flu produces a distinctive "hoarseness" in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu's; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two.
- N-Acetyl-Cysteine -- a nutritional supplement available at the health food store or Wimberley Pharmacy, has been shown to prevent or lessen the severity of influenza. I suggest 1200mg, twice a day for adults, and 600mg twice a day in kids over 12. It would be hard to get kids under 12 to take it, but you could try opening the capsules and putting it on yogurt. For 40 pounds and up, 300-600 mg twice a day, for less than 40 pounds, half that.
- Oscillococinum, a homeopathic remedy, has been vindicated as quite effective in a large clinical trial in Europe, with an H1N1 variant. You can buy this at Hill Country Natural Foods, or the Wimberley Pharmacy.
Meanwhile, don't be afraid just avoid infection. The fewer people infected the easier it will be for our public officials to manage it.
As someone who almost died from getting a staph infection in a hospital, I would hesitate to go to the doctor if you get sick. It's ironic, but there you go.
If I get this thing, I'm riding it out at home no matter how bad it gets. I'll never step foot in a hospital again if I can help it.
My boss' friend, who's a doctor in Wimberly sent him the below email (which he forwarded to me). Thought you might be interested:
After I returned from a public health meeting yesterday with community leaders and school officials in Comal County, Heather suggested I send an update to everyone, because what we are hearing privately from the CDC and Health Department is so different from what you are hearing in the media.
Some of you know some or maybe all of this, but I will just list what facts I know..
- The virus is infectious for about 2 days prior to symptom onset
- Virus sheds more than 7 days after symptom onset (possibly as long as 9 days) (this is unusual)
- Since it is such a novel (new) virus, there is no "herd immunity," so the "attack rate" is very high. This is the percentage of people who come down with a virus if exposed. Almost everyone who is exposed to this virus will become infected, though not all will be symptomatc. That is much higher than seasonal flu, which averages 10-15%. The "clinical attack rate" may be around 40-50%. This is the number of people who show symptoms. This is a huge number. It is hard to convey the seriousness of this.
- The virulence (deadliness) of this virus is as bad here as in Mexico, and there are folks on ventilators here in the US, right now. This has not been in the media, but a 23 month old near here is fighting for his life, and a pregnant woman just south of San Antonio is fighting for her life. In Mexico, these folks might have died already, but here in the US, folks are getting Tamiflu or Relenza quickly, and we have ready access to ventilators.
What this means is that within a couple of weeks, regional hospitals will likely become overwhelmed.
- Some of the kids with positive cases in Comal County had more than 70 contacts before diagnosis.
- There are 10-25 times more actual cases (not "possible" cases -- actual), than what is being reported in the media. The way they fudge on reporting this is that it takes 3 days to get the confirmatory nod from the CDC on a given viral culture, but based on epidemiological grounds, we know that there are more than 10 cases for each "confirmed" case right now.
- During the night, we crossed the threshold for the definition of a WHO, Phase 6 global pandemic. This has not happened in any of our lifetimes so far. We are in uncharted territory.
- I expect President Obama will declare an emergency sometime in the next 72-96 hours. This may not happen, but if it doesn't, I will be surprised. When this happens, all public gathering will be cancelled for 10 days.
- I suggest all of us avoid public gatherings. Outdoor activities are not as likely to lead to infection. It is contained areas and close contact that are the biggest risk..
- Tamiflu is running out. There is a national stockpile, but it will have to be carefully managed, as it is not enough to treat the likely number of infections when this is full-blown. I don't think there is a big supply of Relenza, but I do not know those numbers. If I had to choose, I would take Relenza, as I think it gets more drug to the affected tissue than Tamiflu.
- You should avoid going to the ER if you think you have been exposed or are symptomatic. ER's south of here are becoming overwhelmed -- and I mean that -- already. It is coming in waves, but the waves are getting bigger.
- It appears that this flu produces a distinctive "hoarseness" in many victims. The symptoms, in general, match other flu's; namely, sore throat, body aches, headache, cough, and fever. Some have all these symptoms, while others may have only one or two.
- N-Acetyl-Cysteine -- a nutritional supplement available at the health food store or Wimberley Pharmacy, has been shown to prevent or lessen the severity of influenza. I suggest 1200mg, twice a day for adults, and 600mg twice a day in kids over 12. It would be hard to get kids under 12 to take it, but you could try opening the capsules and putting it on yogurt. For 40 pounds and up, 300-600 mg twice a day, for less than 40 pounds, half that.
- Oscillococinum, a homeopathic remedy, has been vindicated as quite effective in a large clinical trial in Europe, with an H1N1 variant. You can buy this at Hill Country Natural Foods, or the Wimberley Pharmacy.
Meanwhile, don't be afraid just avoid infection. The fewer people infected the easier it will be for our public officials to manage it.
Honestly, I am little suspect of this email. Why haven't we heard anything about osccillococinum or the other supplement mantioned being an effective preventative measures? Does this doc have some sort of financial stake?
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