swine flu

[teefal]

Just in case you were wondering, the USVI is currently clear: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationU ... lands.aspx

But Mexico is not: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentSwineFluMexico.aspx

"At this time, CDC recommends that U.S. travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Mexico."

The children that caused the outbreak in the school in New York were on a trip to Cancun.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_flu_2009

If you need to feel better about it: http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ ... ineflu.asp

"The chance that you'll get it is much, much smaller, and the possibility that you or a family member will be harmed by the virus is so slim that the news should be on page twenty, not page one."

[mindehankins]

I'm not a cruiser, so I don't know.... Do cruise lines go from Mexico to the Virgin Islands?

[Schnell]

Generally no. The western carib. cruises stay in the western and the eastern usually stay in the eastern. Now they probably go through the same home port and that may be a point of transmission. But it could get to the islands either via a ship or plane, but so can any other form of the flu.

This whole flu seems to be blown out of proportion, but honestly I like that. Makes people aware and the proper authorities respond as if it was a major problem.

[mcdomzal]

Am I worried about the swine flu? Mildly.

Do I think that the media unnecessarily blowing this out of proportion in their never-ending joy at working the public into a panic? ABSOLUTELY!!!!

[teefal]

This whole flu seems to be blown out of proportion, but honestly I like that. Makes people aware and the proper authorities respond as if it was a major problem.

I always worry about financial impact on the islands. Particularly now, any reason to stay home hurts. Just noticed there's a poll sitewide on TripAdvisor which says "Are you changing your travel plans because of the current swine flu scare?" and 23% said "yes."

Whether warranted or not, scares like this can hurt already hurting island economies.

[Boston Mike]

Nothing a bunch of rum won't cure

[sea-nile]

I just got back from Cozumel and I work in Public Health. I am not that worried though.

[djmom]

I'm not freaking out, but I think this is going to be much bigger than the government is letting on. I think it was probably just too late to shut down the borders or whatever.

I think they should be doing more education than they are now about handwashing, etc...to the masses, but they don't want to cause panic and upset the economy. That is very irresponsible in my opinion.

It sounds like there might already be more than one strain out there-one more problematic than the other.

I hope it all ends up being nothing, but I do think a lot of people are going to get sick.

Again, no panic at our house, but I am starting to think a bit about what I might do if things go south....not ordering any face masks though!

[djmom]

we just got a call from our school system...there are suspected cases in Charlotte...it was basically a call saying they are going to do everything they can to stay on top of things, blah blah...but anyways, I think the cases on the news are really lagging due to the fact that they are probably only reporting confirmed cases.

how long it takes to confirm the sample I don't know.

I had just arrived home when I got the call and had heard the same on the radio with more detail-one person was found at the airport "passing through". Another was a kid who recently visited Mexico. Another was someone who was visiting Charlotte from Texas whose entire family was sick recently.

No proof yet any are swine flu yet. 2 are hospitalized...

[cypressgirl]

They're checking people as they get off the plane in Britian, but we can't "profile" here. Maybe only a few Americans will die.....no big deal as long as we don't piss off Mexico. I just don't get it. Why can't we control our own borders? Every other county can do it, but if we try, we're the bad guys. It's very exhausting to worry about all that is going wrong with our country. I just want to go see Kenny this weekend and forget about all this crap.

[rebelbeachgirl]

Cypress girl....are you going to see Kenny in Dallas?

[cypressgirl]

No, in The Woodlands, a burb of Houston,

[Joppa]

It can take anywhere from 24 hrs on up to confirm, through genotyping, that a person has swine flu. The confirmation is done at State labs or the CDC. I'm with you djmom in thinking it will be much more widespread when confirmations start rolling in. I don't think this is a real serious flu, but it, and our reaction to it should be studied in depth. It appears that we can learn much from this outbreak to help us handle future outbreaks.

[loria]

hmmmm, if history serves as any lesson (and if i remember correctly) the great flu epidemic of 1918 started off as a 'mild' flu in the spring and then came back in a much more aggressive flu that fall. Viruses mutate-and that could make it very bad
on the other hand--150 deaths? 175? 200? so far? --how many more? id on't know, but here is some perspective--2 hours or so of malaria deaths in the world is about 240 deaths --so so far this flu has killed the equivalent of what malaria does worldwide in 2 hours everyday--

[RidgeRunner]

I believe in the end this flu outbreak will be no more deadly than usual - what made this one scary was the underreporting by the Mexican government. The mortality rates in Mexico only seem high because according to Mexican authorities only those dead or in the hospital are "sick." As of yesterday, there were still no confirmed cases in all of the Riviera Maya, even though that is where many of the vacationers returning sick had been.

Mexico was trying to protect their tourism industry and was extremely slow to respond to the crisis, now they've effectively killed tourism for the next month or two.