H1N1 Influenza (swine flu) Update: as of 11:00 a.m. on May 21, 2009

UPDATE ON CASES:

DPH today confirmed 42 additional H1N1 influenza (swine flu) cases in Massachusetts. This brings the confirmed case count to 235. Four of the newly confirmed cases were hospitalized. The total number of hospitalizations is 19.

As the number of cases in Massachusetts continues to increase, the focus on individual case counts becomes less important than examining overall trends. Therefore this week, DPH shifted away from listing individual cases of confirmed H1N1, and began listing aggregate cases by county. DPH will also provide data on age distribution of cases and an aggregate count of hospitalizations in the state.

Please note that DPH continues to work closely with health care providers and local public health departments on community level prevention activities.

Flu outbreaks evolve in unpredictable ways; it is impossible to know whether this outbreak will decrease, remain the same, or grow in coming weeks, and whether the illness will remain at its current severity which, on the whole has been relatively mild. Some severe cases may occur in people with underlying risk factors such as young children, the elderly, and people with chronic medical conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and DPH are watching closely for signs of increased severity of the H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and will continue to monitor and report on any developing trends.

Because there is no vaccine for H1N1 influenza, public health officials remind all Massachusetts residents to continue taking simple steps to keep themselves and others healthy.

• Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

• Cover your cough with a tissue or cough into your inner elbow and not into your hands.

• If you are sick stay home from work and if your child is sick keep them home from school for 7 days, or 24 hours after your symptoms go away—whichever is longer.

• Stay informed about the latest developments on the H1N1 flu.

For more information on H1N1 flu (swine flu) please visit www.mass.gov/dph.

Download information on cases from 5-21-09.

Comments

[SC]

In Weston alone, three schools closed down, after a significant percentage of kids calling sick on Monday.
When is the stage going to call it an epidemic and be rigorous about quarantine?
Does the state have the resources and infrastructure to support massive quarantine, including delivering food and supply to the sick people at home? If not, the sick ones would be roaming around and infect many more.

Third world countries are doing much better than here. It is high time to plan on the definitely possible scenario that a significant percentage of Mass residents will be sick. Quarantining people or not, there will be burdensome demand on state and local resources to deal with the issue.
Sooner we move to quarantine, the less damage. We can't bury our heads in the sand any longer...

[EB]

The links for case updates from earlier this week don't seem to be working. They all bring you the current (May 21) update page.

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Suzanne Crowther responds: Sorry about that. Our IT folks are telling us that we can only link to the latest case count information. Unfortunately, if you want to refer back to previous case counts, you'll have to save each update to your computer.