Posted on 02/26/2010 4:19:20 AM PST by Man50D
New statistics on the H1N1 swine flu strain show that it is no longer a “pandemic” in the United States, and that fatalities here never came close to the levels projected by the White House last fall.
As of Feb. 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that more than 212 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of “pandemic influenza H1N1 2009,” and 15,921 deaths have been confirmed worldwide.
Outbreaks in North and South America are now at a low level, WHO said.
“In the Americas, both in the tropical and northern temperate zones, pandemic influenza virus continues to circulate at low levels but overall pandemic influenza activity continued to decline or remain low in most places,” the WHO report added.
Meanwhile, H1N1 cases and fatalities in the United States are no longer occuring at an epidemic level, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and are far below the levels that had been predicted in 2009.
The CDC reported on Feb. 12 that an estimated 8,330 to 17,160 people have died in the U.S. alone since the H1N1 “swine flu” virus first broke out in April 2009.
For H1N1 (Swine Flu) related deaths, the mid-level in the range was about 11,690, the CDC said.
The CDC also estimated that between about 183,000 and 378,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations occurred between April and Jan.16 of last year.
The CDC numbers differ from the WHO statistics because the U.S. agency said it stopped reporting “laboratory confirmed” cases in 2009. The CDC now only reports “estimates” of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths from influenza.
“Early in the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, CDC did collect information related to 2009 H1N1 cases, but on July 24, 2009, states discontinued reporting of individual cases of 2009 H1N1 because as the outbreak expanded, individual case counts become increasingly impractical and not representative of the true extent of disease,” according to the CDC Web site.
“For this reason, definitive counts of how many people have become infected with 2009 H1N1 are not available. However, CDC developed a method to provide an estimated range of the total number of 2009 H1N1 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States,” the public health agency said.
Still, U.S. estimates fall significantly below the average number of 36,000 fatalities the government says typically occur each year from seasonal flu.
The CDC estimates are also well below the White House projection last fall that a low of 30,000 deaths to a maximum of 90,000 could be expected.
On Aug. 24, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) -- a panel chaired by White House Science Czar John P. Holdren -- released a report assessing H1N1 preparations. This report suggested that anywhere between “30,000 and 90,000” people could possibly die as a result of the flu.
The PCAST report stated, “While the precise impact of the fall resurgence of 2009-H1N1 influenza is impossible to predict, a plausible scenario is that the epidemic could:
“-- produce infection of 30-50 percent of the U.S. population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 percent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention.
“-- lead to as many as 1.8 million U.S. hospital admissions during the epidemic, with up to 300,000 patients requiring care in intensive care units (ICUs). Importantly, these very ill patients could occupy 50-100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic and could place enormous stress on ICU units, which normally operate close to capacity.
“-- cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States, concentrated among children and young adults. In contrast, the 30,000-40,000 annual deaths typically associated with seasonal flu in the United States occur mainly among people over 65. As a result, 2009-H1N1 would lead to many more years of life lost.”
In October of 2009, President Obama signed a proclamation declaring H1N1 a “national emergency" as the "rapid increase in illness" continued.
As noted, the CDC now is reporting that, in the United States, between 8,330 to 17,160 people have died from H1N1 since the virus first broke out in April 2009, and that the mid-level in the range was about 11,690 deaths.
Now wait one minute!! this data does not back up the movie Outbreak, so these folks are lying.
O noes!!!
Does this mean I don’t have to go looking for mother Abigail?
As in unexpected ?
Another wasted crisis. Just damn.
The One NEVER gets anything correct....wrong on this, wrong on stimulus keeping unemployment numbers lower..wrong wrong he is wrong for America
Tens of thousands of American citizens unexpectedly didn’t die. The White House regrets the mistake.
Estimates are so much easier to use. Data is easier to manipulate that way.
Swine Flu Casualties Far Below White House Projections,
Could it be that many millions of guinea pigs refused the vaccine thus avoiding contact with he virus that governments and pharmaceutical companies were pushing on the suspicious public. .
*ping*
>”Another wasted crisis. Just damn.”
Agreed. That little midget Rahm Emanuel is out there trying to conjure up another one. Wonder what it will be? Aliens? Pirates? Conservatives?
I see the douche bag in chief did not get his Marshall Law over this. Good for us.
I am waiting for an apology from all those “the sky is falling” FReepers who flamed me for saying that this was just another Government BS scare tactic perpetrated by the left.
Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania presented a “late-breaker” abstract in October, so far not published in a journal, which said that 40% of children diagnosed with “influenza-like illness” had some other virus (not H1N1).
Ping...(Thanks, hennie pennie!)
This is “unexpected”! :)
Did the DEAR ONE drop his NATIONAL EMERGENCY??
If not he still can declare martial law, I guess.
Also when we found out the shots would be killers they
became scarce all at once, giving them time to make up a batch w/o the contaminants.
IMHO
As expected.
If the government predicts something, expect the opposite.
You won't get one from me. My sister in law was in the hospital for over a month with H1N1. She was in an induced coma for several weeks. When she was first brought in the hospital didn't think she would survive.
She went in Nov. 16 and got out Christmas Eve. She had to do dialysis for several weeks after wards and had to go to rehab to strengthen her leg muscles so she could walk again.
Just because not enough people died, doesn't mean that this wasn't something to take seriously.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.