Three Little Pigs

It's a story that can't be true - it more of a fairy tale than a news report but from Denise Grady of the no less than the New York Times wrote: "Three pigs at the Minnesota State Fair tested positive in late August for H1N1, the flu virus that is causing the current pandemic, the Agriculture Department reported Friday." The little is our addition but you understand how we couldn't help ourselves.

It's not quite a biblical pronouncement but it's a sign that hard to ignore. So we revisit the story for you. OK maybe that's going too far. To continue the story from only the New York Times and Monica Davey from Chicago will make us contact the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. We'll keep you informed.

"Infected pigs have been found in eight other countries. The virus does not seem to make pigs very sick. Of 103 pigs tested at the Minnesota fair, in St Paul, only three were found to be carrying the virus, and all appeared healthy. They probably caught the virus from infected people, researchers said." Follow the link and read the story.

From the Associated Press (AP) this bit of info: "In a conference call with reporters Friday, Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson said officials don't know what happened to the three pigs, but that they probably were sent to slaughter soon after they were shown at the fair, which ended on Labor Day."

It's not what you know - it's what you can prove in a court of law. Maybe that's true as a defense for charges against the "balloon boy" family. When it comes to the health of you and your family that might not be necessarily so true. We heard the story of the three (3) little pigs and thought we'd heard it or knew the story until we did the researched. Whether this story is true or not the original and the current can still serve as a cautionary tale for us all. What we knew or rather thought we knew of the original story is indeed the basis of the many variation that race to get to the end of the story and leave out much of the story. However the original tale as shown by "A Ladybird 'easy-reading' book" illustrated on the web is probably the best method for a healthy survivable pandemic season - if we like the first pig accept the first available treatment available. While others might think themselves smarter by waiting until other options are exhausted what happens in real life might not emulate what happens in fairy tales.

In the tale the first pig took the first offer, the second big took the second offer and the third pig took the last and historically speaking best offer. In real life the wolf is no longer one (1) huffing and puffing creature but an institution that has no time for press or publication. In the tale the wolf died, boiled alive in the third pigs pot - or did it?

Not according to the follow-up as told by on A. Wolf in his trail transcripts in defense of his actions in the "Defendant Testifies."

In reality all three (3) pigs were sent to slaughter, we contacted the Department of Agriculture (DOA) for verification of the "three (3)" pigs story after finding the press release on their site about the outbreak. We followed up our telephone call with an email to their contact person. In actuality the individual who answered the telephone was not allowed to answer our question: "Were there really three (3) pigs?" They were NOT permitted to do anything other than answer the telephone and take our information for a return call from the appropriate individual.

We understand the need to manage the media. We aren't media. Are we? We report but that doesn't make us reporters. Does it? We seek to understand. Our understanding of all things government is that it doesn't matter who is in office. Governments operate in secret. Secrets get people killed. Transparency by our leaders - whom ever they are does not nor ever has existed. Hence our raison d'etre. That's no fairy tale.

Get the vaccine - don't wait. If ill you MAY pull through without hospitalization. You may even show improvement but if you don't receive the proper treatment you can die. Not will die - but your death is "no skin off their nose." Protect yourself and protect your family. Trust but verify!

Week 39 Flu Deaths

Can you imagine that the District of Columbia Department of Health still maintains that there is only one confirmed case of the H1N1 swine flu virus and they have completely removed the number zero number of deaths? While the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains that: "The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report has increased and now exceeds what is normally expected at this time of year. In addition, 19 flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week."

That the DC Department of Health (DCDOH) hasn't released a press release this month it shouldn't be surprising that the source for information in the city is less than current. It shouldn't surprise us that the nation's capital city is considered twenty-six (26) in the United States for health care when compared to the other fifty (50) jurisdictions.

Twenty-six (26) according to who: "The Commonwealth Fund (CF) is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults."

Pneumonia/Flu Deaths	2009	2008	2007
District of Columbia	94	60	44
Baltimore, MD	585	618	507
Richmond / Norfolk, VA	179	167	175

Is it all bad news? No, there is still cause for hope - we asked the DC DOH for their plans but according to the same CF DC was: "Among the states that moved up the most in the overall performance rankings..." Should we celebrate? No DC still has one of the "highest mortality rates" and "(r)eadmission rates in 2006–07 ranged to highs of 21 to 23 percent in the worst-performing five states" which includes DC.

Need a procedure? Worried about the costs? You might consider number seventeen (17) - Maryland. "By 2008, only three states (Colorado, New Jersey, and Maryland) had premiums averaging under 14 percent of median income." Virginia might have the reputation as the better care system but independent evaluations finds more to praise Maryland for than the Old Dominion.

Virginia was ranked but see if you can discover any praises for our southern neighbor. We were unable to mine any praise other than its twenty-second (22) better than Washington rank. It's number two but according to the Commonwealth Fund number three (DC) tries harder.

Be informed. Stay informed.

The Count Doesn't Count

As children we loved the Slide game where the numbers are jumbled and you have to unscramble them in the right order. That sort of what we feel like when we try to verify the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) numbers for our region. And it's no where near as much fun.

When you fudge the facts its hard to get all the numbers straight and sometimes everybody doesn't get the notice. We've tried to keep you updated with the facts but we seem to be the only ones locally who are. Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia will tell you there are no H1N1 deaths even if you ask them about flu or pneumonia so Pennsylvania and West Virginia's numbers seem evasive. Maryland and Virginia say they've had ONLY one pediatric death to swine flu. Only Washington DC doesn't respond but their site says they've had no death to date. As the news stations continue to report the number of students growing to the hundreds infected with the flu the site proudly proclaims one (1) confirmed case.

Officially the count doesn't count. According to the tally given by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that we know this is an under count. Their own numbers can't be verified even with a "reset." That the CDC claims will "allow jurisdictions to implement the new case definition, counts were reset to zero on August 30, 2009." While their website claims that in Region 3 there were ten (10) pediatric deaths.

Internally we have the full count and will continue to use the CDC internal memos to report the full figures for our jurisdictions that the departments of health legally are required to report to the CDC. Obviously the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has no legal obligation to tell us the citizens the real numbers. We can't even confirm the ten (10) deaths that the website claims occurred in the Region officially with the various jurisdictions.

With that in mind and the latest report from the "Children's Hospital Boston" published in PEDIATRICS magazine for October 1st and reported in the news: Associated Press (AP), Atlantic Journal Constitution (AJC), HealthDay which states: "More than half a million kids a year are treated for medication side effects in American outpatient clinics and emergency rooms, according to new data."

Should we as parents be concerned for our children about the H1N1 virus when we rush them to our emergency rooms? That's the question we posed to the remaining authors of the study.

"Parents should pay close attention when their children are started on medicines since "first-time medication exposures may reveal an allergic reaction," said lead author Dr. Florence Bourgeois, a pediatrician with Children's Hospital in Boston."

What they tell us we'll report to you. Our feelings are that there is little with which to be concerned. What the non-pediatric death of the Miami University student from Ohio lets us know that there is three (3) weeks between the time a healthy adult succumbs to the virus.

On September 5 the doctor's notified his "parents that they did not expect him to survive the night" yet "he held on for three weeks." There is a vaccine meant to revive and save a dying H1N1 patient. Demand it and if necessary call your congress/senator and get it yourself from the United Kingdom. DO whatever it takes.

Should parents be concerned about the H1N1 vaccinations or have enough testing be done to convince you that such ADE's won't be of significant concern? We don't think so. Just pay attention and ignore the "official" word.

There is a vaccine meant to revive and save a dying H1N1 patient. Demand it and if necessary call your congressman/senator or get it yourself from the United Kingdom. DO whatever it takes. Fight. Fight like hell for the ones you love - always even when you think the doctors are on your side.

Why aren't the real numbers published by the CDC and Prevention we asked AttorneyAtLaw.com. Maybe its a legal thing. If so we suggest every victim "get to suing." The facts are the facts and truth counts.

Don't Be Afraid - Fact Are Facts

You don't have the flu, swine (H1N1) or otherwise. So what does it matter how many people died. You didn't die. All that matters is that you are safe and without infection. Maybe you're reassured by not knowing. Many people don't ever really want to know and they panic when they get those false emails telling them that the "sky is falling!" Today we heard from a relative by email something that happened to someone else that we should now be cautious. The "facts" in the email weren't true and the email had been circulating since last year. The purpose was to protect us by making us cautious. All such emails are false. We've received only one in five years that was actually true.

As we approach the weekend and our weekly flu death numbers the local jurisdictions (DC, Maryland and Virginia) have released their "official" "reset" stats and ignored our emailed questions concerning the numbers to date! While the District of Columbia has a huge brand new splash page proclaiming only one (1) confirmed H1N1 cases* and zero (0) deaths they offer this caveat: "As of September 1, the Department of Health only tests for H1N1 in hospitalized flu cases. Counts are the number of confirmed cases since September 1, 2009."

What's missing is the date of the notice so we'd know that they're counting from the first of September til when? The second of September? You'll notice the words "confirmed cases." What do we care whether or not the case is confirmed as H1N1 or not? How many individuals in the District of Columbia have died as a result of the flu?

Maryland's Department of Health is more imaginative but to find the information you'll have to look "in the corner in the booth in the back in the dark." Look at the very bottom on the right hand side. You'll see a much smaller chart "below the fold": "Total Maryland 2009 H1N1 Flu Hospitalizations and Deaths, Posted 09/01/09 @ 1:42 p.m., Reported since June 1, 2009. Hospitalized Cases 166, Deaths 7."

Kudos to Maryland for not "resetting" their numbers to zero as per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "To allow jurisdictions to implement the new case definition, counts were reset to zero on August 30, 2009. From August 30-September 12, 2009 4,569 hospitalizations and 364 deaths associated with influenza virus infection, or based on syndromic surveillance for influenza and pneumonia, were reported to CDC."

Virginia's Department of Health has the most accurate, maybe, method taking their clue from the CDC very difficult to understand graphic map. The PDF shows: "Percent of Emergency Department and Urgent Care Visits with Influenza Like Illness (ILI) by Health District in Virginia, 2009 - Data for week ending September 12, 2009." Which again isn't the information we really want to know. Are we then suppose to move, live, work in the areas where their is no activity or like the scary emails we get - "be afraid, be very afraid?" Is the sky failing?

We'd really like to know who made the decision or approved the decision to "reset" to zero the number of deaths due to the flu for the District of Columbia, who decided to hide the count on the Maryland page, or who decided that a graphic, non-interactive map was the most efficient way to demonstrate ER flu visits? We REALLLLLY would like to know in case that individual or those individuals ever decided to seek higher professional aspirations. We want names!

Think its okay. Let's put it this way: John Allen Muhammad, Jeffrey Dahmer or Charles Manson have not killed anyone -if we reset their murders to zero. It's exactly the same. It's disrespect for the lives of the dead. They aren't important. All that is important is what we say!

We will not reset our numbers to zero! Information is power. If you need to bury your head in the sand go right ahead. We're going to keep our heads to the sky.

Flu Dead Numbers Rise

You won't find their names at the end of a PBS broadcasts but the first canaries who die the expected deaths from the expected flu even though we have the cure or rather the preventative are still just as dead. We all don't need saving but those whom have died within the last few weeks could have lived. The sadness is that they may have had access to the treatment and it just might have been too late. If we KNEW what was actually going on then we could grieve and just accept what is.

Again this is not to panic you, the reader. We get from those whom we employ (our representatives) what we demand of them. When you read or hear that the H1N1 swine flu isn't going to be as bad as predicted. Give them the figures. When the world says that a pandemic is coming - how is that not bad? Are they "Chicken Littles?" Do you think we are? We don't want you afraid. We want you informed. Or like the President said today and has repeated since the campaign: "Fired Up! Ready To Go! Fired Up! Ready To Go!"

		JURISDICTIONS	DEATHS
		District of Columbia	76
		Baltimore, MD	544
		Richmond / Norfolk, VA	177

The numbers don't lie although our jurisdictions may not tell us we still think that Virginia needs to be commended for restricting their mistruths. While all the jursidictions are reporting to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the death toll the reports are being released accurately to the public. Virginia reported another death but within the site mentions incorrectly as a year to date number an inflated weekly death toll in the U.S. Maryland has stopped counting and if you reviewed the D.C. website you'd think they're were no deaths. The flu season isn't upcoming - it's here!

What each jursidiction has failed to do is to notify the local newspapers to not report such deaths in their obituaries. We read them daily counting, contacting the families and funeral homes concerning the unexplained and DC Medical Examiner investigative deaths. It's a macabre job but somebody's got to do it!

Don't Panic - Flu Numbers

They changed the way they count the numbers. They changed the way they report the numbers. Really does it matter if you die from H1N1 or if you die from pneumonia? The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is reporting the deaths regionally. The CDC does acknowledge: "Current visits to doctors for influenza-like illness are down from April, but are higher than what is expected in the summer."

In Washington DC the Department of Health hasn't acknowledged a single death and no longer reports what they thought was so important to acknowledge. They're not alone. Our point is don't count on your local government to keep you informed. Best of the worst is Maryland, as though the swine flu is the only thing that's out to get you - it isn't.

Here are just the facts Jack! We can't link to where we got the info because we want to be able to access the information to report it to you. They say you can find anything on the internet. While we don't know how true that is there is alot of information that can be found. We've also scoured sources to discover who the first canaries were. Of the eight (8) deaths in the District of Columbia we think we've discovered four (4). But without official confirmation we can't do that either.

Pneumonia/FLU	Deaths
District of Columbia	8
Baltimore, MD	519
Richmond / Norfolk, VA	165

You Matter When You Die

The vaccine is coming but until it arrives - you're up feces creek without a paddle. The Boston Public Health Commission has released this scary bit of news: "Cases of swine flu higher among city blacks, Hispanics" according to Boston.com of the BOSTON GLOBE. "But disease specialists cautioned that the preliminary data from Boston provide clues but no definitive answer." "It’s definitely a very important observation that we need to track,’’ said Dr. Alfred DeMaria, top disease tracker at the state Department of Public Health. “But we don’t want to overinterpret it until we have more and better information.’’

"...The Boston disease specialists found that of the 71 city residents hospitalized with swine flu, 49 percent were African-American, and 28 percent were Hispanic. In both cases, the hospitalization rates were double each group’s overall presence in Boston’s population."

Death isn't funny and the loss of your loved one isn't a joking manner. The District of Columbia has lost two individuals to the flu. While none of our jurisdictions are releasing their infection rates only the deaths (the District hasn't officially released the number to the public) the CDC is still releasing the data weekly only showing the Pediatric Deaths in their August 8th report. The CDC's own records show more current information but information this isn't readily available to the public.

Our region (III) is the sixth (6th) most infected region in the nation. Region III is comprised of DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, and WV which also claims no deaths and separates residents from non-residents and only presents "lab confirmed results." There are only two (2) jurisdictions in our region reporting regional or widespread activity. The least infected region is I with only one (1) jursidiction reporting regional or widespread activity and the most infected region is VI with zero (0) jurisdictions reporting regional or widespread activity. We don't understand it either. But that's what the CDC reports and so we report it to you. Region 1 is CT, ME, MA, NH, RI and VT. Region 6 is AR, LA, NM, OK and TX. Again this information is for Last Week.

We don't want you to be afraid but the more we don't learn and the slower we are to learn the facts the more dangerous will be our response to what will be an unbelievably horrible situation. Hence we refer you to the Monty Python scene from The Holy Grail: "Bring Out Your Dead!"

Our solution? There are only 2904 Hospital Beds in the District of which the government expects to use 500 for the epidemic that is expected. This according to their 2005 pandemic plan (PDF).

In an emergency finding an available bed coulod save your life and or the life of your loved one. Boston has already discovered that this pandemic will affect the poor, Black and Hispanic more severly than the general population. In the district the poor, Black and Hispanic IS the general population. Their use of our limited resources creates a situation that drains the resources of our currently stretched and already strained resources. If you can or plan to have a medical procedure now rather than later might be a better consideration.

The biggest problem with new infections - their is no vaccine read real protection against the flu and its over two months prior to the start of the normal flu season (November).

IT'S HERE! The Flu is HERE!

The flu is HERE! The vaccine is coming but it's going to be late. The CDC report (issued every Friday at 11AM then but NOT now) what was shown was too plainly understood. The method of reporting and the way the CDC "made it plain" has been removed so you won't and can't understand now bad the situation is and will be.

The Health and Human Services said the programs for our shots should be ready by the time the landlord switches off the air and turns on the heat, in October. That is and will be too late. The fact that the deaths are preventable is the real tragedy. In Virginia the state says that their latest REPORTED death occurred to a female who "had an underlying health condition." We're awaiting a response to our call on what her underlying condition was to which we all might be susceptible to a H1N1 Flu death.

SWINE FLU	Cases	Deaths
District of Columbia OLD	43	0
Maryland	766	4
Virginia	300	2

Can you trust the figures? No! They don't even report the figures anymore. Or if they do they report it its in a way that is not clearly understood. By design? We're not certain. Reporting the numbers and then not when they did and it was clearly understood. That seems strange to us. Well then all it takes is a call to the proper person listed as a contact except the people who answer the phones for the contact person aren't even aware of the current numbers.

We are region three (3) where the CDC reports that has been an over twenty-seven (27.1) per cent increase for this area. Region III consists of: DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV. Only Region IV has a greater rate of infection and consists: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN.

The definition of an epidemic: "affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time." 36,000 people die EVERY year from the flu which fits the definition of SOME of the worst epidemic in US history. "1942-53 Polio continued to ravage the U.S., peaking in 1952 with about 60,000 cases. Worst epidemic since 1916." This is what is expected when the season starts in October. This is prior to the season with a total deaths so far of 353 preventable lives. In Virginia 1,000 citizens are EXPECTED to die from the flu in a normal year. In Maryland 1,000 citizens are EXPECTED to die as well. Hopefully it won't be us and if the trend continues it'll probably be a child and senior that we know and love. We deserve better with our knowledge and technology we deserve better. Let's "thin the herd" through competition and accomplishments not through neglect and ignorance.

The Flu is Coming

The flu is coming! I mean the vaccine is coming. The vaccine is coming! With 170 deaths and counting according to the current CDC report (issued every Friday at 11AM) but with some states showing widespread infections the president's Health and Human Services said the programs for our shots should be ready by the time the landlord switchs off the air and turns on the heat, in October. Or for the homeowners among you that means as soon as you get to changing the air filters in your furnaces.

SWINE FLU	Cases	Deaths
District of Columbia	43	0
Maryland	686	2
Virginia	300	2

Can you trust the figures? No! Even in the case of the District of Columbia in their last report to the city their figures issued June 19, 2009 their count has higher than the posted CDC report figures. Maryland doesn't release their current figures on the website but they did issue a press release about their second death WBOC TV16 reports the figure at 686. Virginia's site publishes their numbers by county and their numbers issued yesterday are higher than published with an additional death as well.