Deadly foreign migrants do exist
I got shocking news just now — my niece is in the hospital in Salem in an induced coma with complications from the ‘flu. According to my sister the prognosis is not good at all. We are used to the ‘flu taking the lives of the very old and the very young, but my niece is in her 20’s and is healthy. My sister was just released from a different hospital in Oregon with ‘flu complications, although she is much older and not as healthy it was still a surprise. Her entire family suffered from it.
The reason I am positing this is that two weeks ago I took my dad to another hospital in Oregon with symptoms of a mild stroke. He was admitted right away, but there were no rooms for him — he was put on a bed in the ER hallway with many other patients. The staff had to look around his bed to see the electronic patient status board. It is a very good hospital, well organized but it looked like what I imagine a hospital in a war zone looks like. (I have experience with taking people to the emergency room, this looked much more chaotic than normal.). The orderly said that they were seeing a lot of people who had gotten the flu shot. (EDIT: I did not take that to mean that people were getting the flu because of the shot! He meant that he did not think the shot worked this year. (Data seems to say it was %50 effective and helps lessen symptoms.). My sincere apologies for my poor wording, I wrote this in haste.).
People were not overreacting to sniffles, they were being given oxygen and the whole bit. My dad was eventually admitted and is recovering quite well, home now and all is as good as you could expect.
I’m in a bit of shock right now. I could tie it to government and make some point about how we actually need both reality and competence in government but I just don’t feel organized enough to write coherently.
I only got my shot before heading down to Oregon, but do not seem to have caught anything from that experience. I religiously used the hand washing stations in the hospital, “clean hands in, clean hands out”. I would be devastated if I passed something on to my wife. I am quite worried about my sister and her extended family. I don’t know what to do to help anybody.
I realize that I have a small number of data points, so I am not making a scientific argument. Quick browsing seems to indicate a very nasty variant of the ‘flu in China.
I do not know what advice to give other than to tell you to research and prepare. For some kinds of ‘flu, being young and healthy is not much help. There is something called a “Cytokine storm” which is essentially an overreaction to the virus that especially hurts people with healthy immune systems.
I think there is a chance there is something really nasty coming. My brilliant great-uncle trained as a doctor and was unfortunate enough to start his residency when the 1918 ‘flu hit (which killed more people than WWI.). He gave up on the career after seeing his first 100 patients die and spent the rest of his life in a grocery store.
Perhaps someone can come up with a better diary and research if there is more data to indicate we have a problem coming. I’m trying to decide what to do.
Wash your hands!
Edit: Thanks for the wishes, everybody.
Looking at the Oregon newspapers from January, Flu hospitalizations set new record in Portland area
It's now official: This is the worst flu season in Oregon history.
Hospitalization for influenza have surpassed 1,000, trampling the previous record set in 2014-15, when 810 people were hospitalized in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.
My experience at the hospital gave me concerns that we are not really prepared for a big outbreak. I know that there are plans to put people in tent cities if such an outbreak were to occur, but what about the medical personnel to help them? I wouldn’t say that hospitals are extremely overstaffed to say the least.
--—
Again, thank you all for your concern. My sister visited and the situation does not look good. I always thought I understood the ‘flu but when it hits like this close to you it is something else. The words my sister is using I always associated with really old, unhealthy people, not a young, healthy, vibrant person getting a start on life. I don’t know if this is a different variant or my family just happens to be under a cursed set of stars at the moment.
I don’t people should go screaming in terror but if a loved one has severe ‘flu this season I’d bump the concern meter up a notch or two and pay really close attention. Maybe it can help. Look up the risks of H1N1 to understand what I am talking about. (I have no idea what variant of the ‘flu this is.)
And if you have been putting off getting the shot, get it done. I waited too long (because of insurance hassles, oddly enough) but just push through it. Again, it might help protect you or somebody else.
Man, this puts politics into perspective...
