from January 10th
Quote:
stephensons posted this article -see Jan 11th in the forum.
Since Lehigh Valley is of interest, I did a search on
http://www.mcall.com to see if they had updated their flu story.
Quote:
Flu bugs the Lehigh Valley
http://www.mcall.com/health/mc-allentow ... 1469.storyLehigh, Northampton counties lead the state in cases
excerpt from Jan 10th:
Quote:
Experts say the Valley is the state's influenza leader more than two months into the flu season largely thanks to bad luck.
"It's the luck of the draw sometimes," Allentown Health Bureau Director Vicky Kistler said. Once influenza settles into an area, "it's very difficult to contain," she said.
All it takes, Kistler said, is an infected person who goes into social settings — classes, stores, workplaces or churches, for instance — to spread germs by coughing, sneezing and failing to follow good hygienic practices. "Boom," she said. "You're at the top of the list."
The flu is a contagious respiratory illness that can have a mild-to-severe impact and at times can be fatal.
Eight people have died from the flu so far this season, including two in Lehigh County, the state Department of Health reported.
Things didn't start well here when flu season began, said Dr. Stephen Ostroff, acting physician general and director of the state Department of Health's Bureau of Epidemiology. He said the Valley had a "fairly unusual occurrence" of the 2009 H1N1 strain of the flu in October, before other areas were reporting any cases. The Valley so far has reported seven cases of the H1N1 "swine" flu, more than Philadelphia, which reported five.
In a typical year, January and February are the months when flu hits the hardest, usually all over the state, the experts said. "It's only a matter of time" before other population centers catch up to the Valley's flu numbers, Ostroff said.
letter to the editor follow on:
http://www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-letter- ... 1204.storyQuote:
Conflicting messages offered about health
I am confused.
The Jan. 11 issue of your newspaper's front-page headlines read, "Flu bugs the Lehigh Valley" and "Bi-county health agency kaput." The article on the flu suggests that persons get flu shots, but these are not available all over the county and Lehigh Valley Hospital has no more walk-ins. Where do the disabled and elderly get a necessary flu shot? If we had a bi-county health bureau, there could be clinics locally or even services to the homebound for any reason to have the flu shot.
How can we keep the flu from spreading if the shots are not easily available? Yes, I am an advocate of the bi-county health bureau but also concerned as to how and where the people can get flu shots.
In past years, the Lehigh County Area on Aging had nurses come to the senior centers to give flu shots. This did not happen this year at Ridge Manor in Emmaus. Please, what do the elderly and infirmed do? How do they get protected and in turn prevent further cases of this disease from spreading?
That was the only local news I found in this publication.
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