Connecticut Flu-Free For Now, But Health Officials Are Prepared

The state has so far been spared the growing swine flu outbreak, but a top state health official said Monday that he does not expect Connecticut to remain free of the disease.

[Frank the Tank]

Has Obama blamed Bush for the swine flu yet?

[Clavo Cruz]

A le ader who cared for his people would err to the side of caution and close the borders and screen all of those who enter the country not play the politically correct game hoping that this does not turn into a pandemic influenza that will rival 1918

[Crab]

Frank the Tank wrote:

Has Obama blamed Bush for the swine flu yet?

Heartening to see that the first comment on this subject comes from an ignoramus with an irrational grudge against Obama.

[CONCERNED]

I Know all the store mangers & wifes and higher ups from Town Fair Tire Centers just left for Mexico for a week! Hope the company got them all a shot before they left.

[Dude]

Clavo Cruz wrote:

A le ader who cared for his people would err to the side of caution and close the borders and screen all of those who enter the country not play the politically correct game hoping that this does not turn into a pandemic influenza that will rival 1918

We can't stop the Mexican's from jumping the border now, a strain of Flu is going to change that?

Crazy media hype. Just like they did with Aid's not so long ago. Wasn't that supposed to kill us all as well?

[SWHosley]

Frank the Tank wrote:

Has Obama blamed Bush for the swine flu yet?

Not yet!

[Do-Right]

how about we close our southern border, stop all flights in from, Mexico, and central America, don't allow, travel to those countries.....just a no-brainer..???

[Ron]

The media is now telling us how Janet Napolitano is doing such a great job with homeland security and the flu, yet there is no more security at our southern border. Chris Mathews is comparing the Bush administration's response to hurricane Katrina with the current administration's response to the Swine Flu. On and on it goes...maybe we need a new government committee to study this..it would mean more jobs after all. Can't wait for the pres to be mugging for some more photo opps.

[Miss Anthropic]

Clavo Cruz wrote:

A le ader who cared for his people would err to the side of caution and close the borders and screen all of those who enter the country not play the politically correct game hoping that this does not turn into a pandemic influenza that will rival 1918

I'm pretty sure it was you in a comment (on a previous article/version of this news story) who was *hoping* the current flu outbreak reaches the level of the 1918 pandemic. You suggested that we could use a die off. Changing your mind and deciding maybe you *don't* want that or are you just playing devil's advocate here?

[Miss Anthropic]

Crab wrote:

<quoted text>
Heartening to see that the first comment on this subject comes from an ignoramus with an irrational grudge against Obama.

A lot of the comments are unbelievably ignorant. There's someone on here who said s/he hoped the flu got as bad as it did in 1918 so we could have a kill off and so the people could retake their government back. I'm really not doing this ijjit justice in my recount. That level of malice, that someone would wish an intensely virulent pandemic which would kill on the scale of the 1918 flu...it is simply beyond me.

[Miss Anthropic]

Do-Right wrote:

how about we close our southern border, stop all flights in from, Mexico, and central America, don't allow, travel to those countries.....just a no-brainer..???

I don't think the WHO is doing a great job on protection public health with their decisions here. E.g., I don't think that abandoning the notion of infection control is sensible - the reasoning behind abandoning it which I see in their updates and the various news articles on them is that we can't expect to fully geographically contain infection anymore. I get that, but even something that just slows down the global spread might be good at this point. I strongly suspect in July, we'll be looking back and wishing we had slowed this thing down even a little.

As for who the restrictions should be on (i.e. Mexico and, perplexingly, Central America), I'm sure the rest of the world is thinking the US belongs on a travel restriction list too, and I don't blame them one bit.

[Miss Anthropic]

CONCERNED wrote:

I Know all the store mangers & wifes and higher ups from Town Fair Tire Centers just left for Mexico for a week! Hope the company got them all a shot before they left.

Yeah...so my current theory on why the flu hasn't been as virulent in the US is that so far, the US residents who have gotten it are part of a set of people who have the $$$ to travel to Mexico. Those people also tend to have better health insurance and access.

Your Town Fair Tire example fits that quite well.

[pwn3d]

Dude wrote:

<quoted text>
We can't stop the Mexican's from jumping the border now, a strain of Flu is going to change that?
Crazy media hype. Just like they did with Aid's not so long ago. Wasn't that supposed to kill us all as well?

Yeah and that turned out to be not at all deadly.

[Cough-Cough]

In 1957 it was the "Asian Flu", in 1968 it was the "Hong Kong Flu" and today it's the "Swine Flu".
Wouldn't "Mexico Flu" be more appropriate to identify the origin or do we need to be PC?
Here is the latest from a report on the WHO website.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_27/en/inde...
Mexico 26 confirmed -- no deaths
US 40 confirmed --no deaths.
Canada 6 confirmed -- no deaths.
Why is the NY times reporting 152 case in Mexico?
Who do we believe?( no pun intended)
Is this a crisis where there is none?

[Alfred E Newman Esq]

I've got news for you intrepid reporters at the Courant; Swine Flu has already hit Connecticut, in the form of Sen. Chris Dudd.

[pwn3d]

Cough-Cough wrote:

In 1957 it was the "Asian Flu", in 1968 it was the "Hong Kong Flu" and today it's the "Swine Flu".
Wouldn't "Mexico Flu" be more appropriate to identify the origin or do we need to be PC?
Here is the latest from a report on the WHO website.
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_27/en/inde...
Mexico 26 confirmed -- no deaths
US 40 confirmed --no deaths.
Canada 6 confirmed -- no deaths.
Why is the NY times reporting 152 case in Mexico?
Who do we believe?( no pun intended)
Is this a crisis where there is none?

It's 1xx suspected deaths. 7 deaths confirmed. And yes, right now would be a really bad time to start using the term "Mexican Flu".

[Big Suprise]

I see a page from the Bush/media playbook here...is the Obama administration taking the same route?

This is a DISTRACTION from other important world events. How many deaths? The coverage this story is getting is making me feel sick enough to make me feel like I've got swine flu. Rediculous. I guess the pirate thing is over?

When will people stop buying this flavor of the week media bull?

[Wendell]

There is no "shot" to prevent the current strain or any other form of influenza.

International travel is a fact of life these days. Most of the people who travel to Mexico are American citizens on vacation. Even if we closed the border with Mexico, people who have been to Mexico or had contact with someone who has could fly in to the US from any one of a hundred other destinations. We couldn't stop it in 1918, we aren't going to be able to stop it now.

The biggest difference is that the mortality rate will be lower if we are able to provide better supportive care to those who do get sick.

[bam bam]

I'll put my money on one of the sanctuary cities in CT (Hartford, New Haven) for reporting the first case(s) of swine flu.

[bam bam]

Frank the Tank wrote:

Has Obama blamed Bush for the swine flu yet?

“This disease is spreading as we speak, but right now, a Bush-appointed accountant is running the department (HHS)."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/217...