DeKalb quarantines inmates with flu symptoms
By Larry Hartstein
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The DeKalb County Jail has quarantined 30 of its 3,500 inmates amid concern about a flu outbreak
Eleven inmates have shown flu syptoms. They and about 20 others who might have had contact with them have been isolated from the general population. One inmate is in the infirmary.
Jail officials have restricted visitation, and staff members are wearing masks when working in the quarantined area.
Officials believe the problem began with an inmate who entered the jail Tuesday.
The jail’s medical staff has instructed inmates and staff members on protective measures they should be taking.
“Jail officials remind the public that precautionary measures will also be taken should an isolated inmate reach the date for release from jail,” the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said
http://www.ajc.com/news/dekalb-quarantines-inmates-with-163764.html
Kudoe & HatTip To Poster get a grippe who posted the below at PFI
I have updated the list of children’s H1N1 deaths through Oct. 14. The current total stands at 142. The link:
http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?p=249344&highlight=#249344
I have abandoned the attempt to track the number of total H1N1 deaths. (Sorry, Eccles.) I tried to copy howmanydays’ google spreadsheet and update the total to the present, but I found that I was unable to do a computer “page search” on the result, rendering it useless. Without a reliable database, it becomes impossible to separate the new deaths from the old. (I am afraid my voluminous paper notes are no longer up to the task. And they certainly don’t do anybody else any good.) Additionally, the reports we are getting now are so spotty and contradictory as to be rendered utterly meaningless. And we have no real baseline for comparison anyway. (36,000 anyone?)
Despite my obsessive/compulsive nature, I am forced to fall back on pseudo-philosopher Jack Handey: “If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let ‘em go, because man, they’re gone.”
Although the reports are partial for children as well, the numbers are still manageable, and we do have some real numbers for comparison:
US Annual Pediatric Influenza Deaths, 2003-2009:
2003-2004: 152 (a bad flu season, which prompted the separate reporting of pediatric deaths)
2004-2005: 39
2005-2006: 41
2006-2007: 68
2007-2008: 83
2008-2009: 68 (seasonal flu only)
According to CDC numbers, an average of 75 children have died from seasonal flu every year since the 2003-2004 flu season.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/fluactivity.htm
While the CDC may have revised these numbers upward slightly, they still give us a basis for comparison. Even with only partial reporting we are already approaching the total for the most deadly year for children since the CDC began compiling records.
So instead of dipping into the molten lava, I will henceforth confine myself to searching under the streetlight.