The Flu Is Killing 4,000 Americans a Week

[TexasTowelie]

Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director (she was the actual director until Trump replaced her with a Tea Person, Brenda Fitzgerald, who stupidly bought shares in a tobacco company one month after taking office and resigned at the end of January) told Bloomberg that in the third week of January, 4,064 people were killed by pneumonia or influenza (they are closely associated during winter). That number is expected to rise as more data is processed. Schuchat, who was appointed by Obama (a man whose skin color is of great importance to the current president), also believes that the death toll of this season—which is far from over, and last week was responsible for one out of every 10 deaths in the US—will surpass the 2009-2010 swine flu episode, which hit 60.8 million Americans hard, sent 274,304 of them to the hospital, and sent another 12,469 to the grave (or oven).

What's of great concern to the competent employees of the CDC is that the current strain hasn't evolved enough from last year's to be considered new. “This is a difficult season, and we can’t predict how much longer the severe season will last,” Schuchat said. “I wish there was better news, but everything we are looking at is bad news.”

Link to tweet

The first response to Time Magazine's tweet about the crisis is typical. It's from a Bellingham woman apparently named "Mary Jobes," whose account claims she is a "wife, mom, everything a woman should be...." She thinks it's absurd that people don't stay at home when they are sick. This is basic common sense. When you get the flu, you remain in bed. Mary Jobes's scolding would make sense if she lived in Sweden or even Canada, but not in the US, where health care is far from universal and a large number of jobs do not offer paid sick days. This makes sickness too expensive for many. And the reason why illness is so costly is because our society is too cheap. To save a few pennies for the rich in the short term, we are willing to place the whole society at risk in the long term.

Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2018/02/12/25806360/the-flu-is-killing-4000-americans-a-week

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. When I worked for the telephone company, Ma Bell

back in the 1960's, we did not get paid for sick time until we'd been out at least three days. But most of us didn't go to work sick. We sucked it up that we'd lose a day or two of pay.

The justification of going to work because of not getting paid sick time is a justification of spreading illness and maybe even death.

Worse yet, plenty of people who do get paid sick time go into work anyway, either because of a misplaced belief that they are indispensable or from some idiotic notion of toughing it out and going to work anyway.

[BigmanPigman]

4. Try being a teacher in elementary school!

The parents can't afford to take off sick or get a babysitter. The kids go to school and infect everyone else. The school districts would tell teachers to come to school even when they were sick themselves since the subs were sick too. I was sick constantly and almost died once because I went to school while I was sick. I was actually kicked out of schools twice by two separate principals since I couldn't even stand up (seriously, I collapsed on the playground once). I have permanent health problems due to it.

People need to realize that schools are not babysitting services but are germ breeding grounds. Keep kids home for 48 hours after they have NO fever Also, drink TONS of water and do not touch your face.

[gratuitous]

2. Seems like this is the kind of public health problem the President should address

Four thousand Americans dying each week! What if some of them are Republican voters?

[Phoenix61]

3. Many years ago I worked for a newspaper

The pressroom crew got hit by the flu hard one year. There were 3 shifts, 7 days a week and they ended up having to pay a neighboring newspaper to print the paper because so many people were out sick. After that debacle they decided if you were sick you needed to stay home. If you came in sick you got sent home and written up. They realized it was to everyone's advantage and to their profit margin to make sure sick people stayed home until they were well enough to work. I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept for business owners to understand.