Red-Light Cameras Not So Special?
Cubs Combat Casino
The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up
County Sales Tax Rollback Vetoed - Here We Go Again
PHOTOS: Peaches And Amanda Blank At Metro
Okay, now this is getting kind of serious. This morning, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman announced that Kilmer Elementary School in Rogers Park would be closed today and tomorrow due to a 12-year-old student who is home with what is being called a "probable case of swine flu." A sample from the student is being sent to the CDC today for confirmation.
Chicago Health Commissioner Dr. Terry Mason defended the closing, saying it was to prevent any further spreading: "When we do this it's the children -- it's not doorknobs, it's not water faucets, it's children sneezing, coughing on each other." Attendance at the predominantly (60 percent) Hispanic school was down yesterday; typical attendance, said Huberman, was around 94 to 96 percent while yesterday attendance was down at 87 percent. Huberman noted, "That's an unusually high absenteeism rate at the school." Dr. Mason said the 12-year-old student is at home, recovering. Meanwhile, yesterday's Indiana case was confirmed as a Notre Dame student.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Okay, this has gone way beyond silly.
The flu kills about 30,000 people in the US every year. So far, the pig flu has killed one.
Worldwide, the flu annually kills between 250,000 and a half million people. So far, we have unconfirmed worldwide deaths from the pig flu totalling around 150.
Of course, regular flu doesn't have the marketing and the scary livestock name to help drive the news cycle. We need to get a grip.
Important Swine Flu Update
I'm with Blue. No action should be taken until more people die.
That would be a better response than silly, useless, hysterical, panic-striken action that accomplishes nothing.
I think preventing a potential flu outbreak at an elementary school is a pretty decent idea. Letting kids stay home for a day or two doesn't strike me as particularly panicky or hysterical.
I would have to disagree with you. Why should we cancel school out of fear of a disease which thus far has proven 1/30000th as harmful as a disease we completely ignore most of the time?
So far, I've seen no evidence that the pig flu is any different from the regular flu. It responds to standard flu treatment procedures and seems to have the exact same effect. Most people recover as easily as they do with regular flu. Why start shutting down the schools and digging out the face masks now?
I commute on the L and work downtown and I haven't seen a single person wearing a face mask, so I don't know where you're getting that. A single school is shutting down for two days. Big deal.
Kilmer is almost all illegal aliens or the children of illegals.
That 60% claim is ludicrously low.
At one point the local school council was taken over by a local activist who put in as head of the LSC a woman that couldn't speak a word of English!
Craig Grenhart, is that you?
What the hell does the percentage of latinos matter scooter? Unless of course you're a xenophobic p.o.s.
Well by all accounts, this strain of the flu originated in Mexico. I'm sure there's some weak argument to be made about a failure to close the border here. Unless this virus is only hitting latinos first, I just don't see it.
Well his argument would require one to hold the fantastically moronic view that legal people legally crossing the border cannot carry flu, it'd also involve suspending belief in the fact that we are sending tons of goods back and forth across the border daily.
Professor of Science?
I just want all the illegals gone, if you don't understand how they're wrecking our economy, you're a fool!
Real wages haven't gone up in years for the working class because all the illegals working at rates far below what the rest of us get.
They also don't pay into Social Security & Medicare, let alone income taxes as most are paid in cash.
They can't read the language so they make serious & dangerous mistakes all the time, resulting in injuries to many others.
So when this country turns into the Third World disaster that's Mexico, don't come crying to anyone!
Nice to know that even at times of grave national health concern someone can always bring it around to those "durn illegals takin 'merican jobs." Thanks, you've saved me from having to watch Lou Dobbs for my daily dose of xenophobia.
You're all wrong. This is the work of an angry god. This is his wrath. Accept Jebus in to your heart now and be saved before the Four Horseman arrive.
My mom, jokingly, I think, said the same thing after the earthquake hit there the other day.
ok, i'm glad i'm not the only one that thinks this is getting out of control. the symptoms of swine flu are not that different than regular flu, so there's something about the hype of it all.
and the ones that are telling us not to panic are the ones that are causing the panic.
Conspiracy theorists think this is the pharmaceutical companies way of paying for the tamiflu vaccination. They took a bath on that one.
I heard on NPR this morning that they plan to make 304 million doses, but feel that a booster will also be needed. It's $82 for the vaccination but the US Government can get it for $19. So A) why can't we get it for $19 and B) how much does it cost to make this vaccination.
Ha, and don't forget that Donald Rumsfeld was a chairman of the company that owns the rights to "Tamiflu" and that he's still a major stockholder raking in millions every time we have a crisis like this. It's certainly easy conspiracy fodder.
From the CDC:
"In 2009, CDC published additional estimates of flu-related deaths comparing different methods, including the methods used in the 2003 JAMA study. The seasons studied included the 1993-94 through the 2002-03 flu seasons [9]. Results from this study showed that during this time period, 36,171 flu-related deaths occurred per year, on average."
A key difference is that many of the victims in Mexico are/were young healthy people with strong immune systems. This reminds people of the 1918 influenza epidemic that killed tens of millions of people:
Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients ... among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
To those who think there has been an overreaction, the cause for concern is not the volume of people who have fallen ill so far, but (1) the rate at which it is spreading and (2) the fact that it is a genetically new strain of flu to which people have not established an immunity. This link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30423369/ provides a fuller explanation. I applaud our government for being proactive about what has the potential to be a major problem (not that it necessarily will). Contrast this to the hurricane Katrina prep.
That's just what I was thinking, wolve: the current administration is preparing to stave off a potential disaster, rather than sitting on their hands while people die preventable deaths, a la Katrina.
Probably, the swine flu won't be a huge deal. But I'm glad the government - both federal and local - is taking no chances with it.
There is a genetically new strain of flu to which people have not established an immunity every year. This is how influenza works. It mutates. That's why we need a new vaccine every year.
I wonder how long these schools that are closing intend to stay closed. This strain of flu will not run its course in a few days. Will the schools be closed for the month or so it's likely to take?
(2) the fact that it is a genetically new strain of flu to which people have not established an immunity.
Can Barack still say it was a problem he inherited from the previous adminstration?
Hey!-Oh!!
Nah, but he can point out how the Republican voted against money to prepare for just such an emergency.
GOP: The Party of FAIL.
Jess...you forgot your trademark bold in your post. :-)
Only 13 year old girls and pedophiles use emoticons
Jess...nice comeback, that's pretty good...Jess is here all night folks!!! His 7 o'clock show is different than his 9 o'clock show! And don't forget to try that salad bar!!
Hey!-Oh!!
"Pandemic! Yo, got that Pandemic!"
Really though, I want to know how much industrial ranching practices contributed to this, if they did at all. If these practices did serve to create an ideal breeding ground for this new virus, to what extent does the food industry need to be forced to reengineer their methods.
I had no idea that wanting the laws of this country followed was xenophobia.
And if you don't know it, they don't allow us Americans to work in Mexico, you get arrested for it!
Naw, it's more like non sequiturs and totally unrelated soapbox ranting about "illegals" in the comments that make you look like a xenophobic nutter.
Scooter,
You should be thankful you live in a country where so many want to immigrate to. So, whatever injustices you claim to suffer because of "illegal immigrants" they're a pretty small price to pay for the freedoms we enjoy here.
I think you and Rick Perry and Glenn Beck should secede with the rest of the grumpy right-wingers.
Seriously, great republic of Texas.
The Mexican cartels will eat your bones inside a year. Good riddance.
Sounds to me like someone is bitter he never got a swine flu day off from school!
Anyway, while I agree there's no reason to panic, you can't be too careful. What Wolve said.
If we followed the same logic of closing schools, wouldn't most Chicago Public Schools have been closed long, long before this considering the number of school children deaths in this city due to guns?