H1N1/Swine MSM Coverage: What can we confirm/debunk through local content analyses?

By most accounts, through mainstream media outlets, the severity/numbers of cases, etc. of H1N1/swine are stabilizing or fizzling. If this reporting is factual, then all the better for humankind.

But to err on a side of caution, I would like trying to give us the power to validate or invalidate the MSM's current position!

If we can catalog (and I'm willing to summarize your responses several hours a day), what you are hearing from CREDIBLE (as much as can be) local outlets/reputable sources within your country, state, province, etc., then it might give us a more complete picture on the status, effects, and especially, severity of this so called imminent pandemic.

Please focus on severity when possible.

Please don't just provide personal accounts...I have my own but won't provide them here.

Since I live in both California and Oregon (US), I will demonstrate below how we might provide more accurate details for ATS:

In CALI (from LA Times, SF Chronicle and Sacramento Bee):

Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County director of public health, said one of the local cases was contracted by a student at Cal State Long Beach, another by a young adult in central Los Angeles and the third by a young adult in the southeastern part of the county.

All of those individuals are doing well and have not been hospitalized, Fielding said.

Meanwhile, state prison officials stopped all visitation and other nonessential activities in 33 adult prisons and six youth facilities after they received word of an inmate at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County with a 95% probable case of swine flu. Visits from attorneys and other critical and legally mandated activities will continue, officials said.
The inmate who was diagnosed with the possible virus and his cellmate have been isolated from other prisoners, and the case appears to be mild, officials said.
Imperial County officials have confirmed seven cases of swine flu and 28 probable cases. Four schools have been closed

In San Diego County, where the first U.S. swine flu case was discovered, there are 15 confirmed cases. So far, all of the cases have been mild. The first case was a 10-year-old boy, confirmed April 15 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has recovered.

More than 8,000 Bay Area children start this week out of school as educators steer a cautious course in dealing with a novel swine flu bug that has, to this point, caused only mild illness among a few dozen people in the region.

Probable cases: 130 in California

So, in local California media reports (and I've only listed the basics) the somewhat local media are indicating no hospitaliztions, and high rates of "recovery"...

In OREGON:

17 of 200 Oregon flu tests are confirmed swine flu (from The Oregonian).

Multnomah County has six of the confirmed cases, Lane and Polk counties each have four cases, Washington County has two, and Umatilla County has one. Four of the cases are children, four are teenagers, and nine are adults.

Two cases required hospital care over the weekend. One was released and the other remained in a hospital Monday but was recovering, Kohn said. No further cases have been hospitalized

Oregon mentions two instances of hospitalization (with fewer cases than CA--CA has much higher cases)...which indicates to me that I need to content analyze a bit more in CA news outlets OR that the local media are acting as MSM as well (not surprising!) OR that the hypothesis that this flu is overblown is viable OR something else is going on.

If this strange virus concerns/mystifies you, please take a second to give facts from your area.

Thanks in advance for your contribution!

I wish I could help with this, but I just don't have the energy...instead I'll give you a shameless bump.

5-5-09 update, for those interested (same sources as last post):

In CALIFORNIA:
SFran. Bay area:

May 5, 2009 8:12 am US/Pacific
Bay Area Swine Flu: 39 Cases, 16 Schools Closed.State health officials said Monday that 190 Californians had likely contracted swine flu so far, including 39 people in the Bay Area — with new cases surfacing in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.

While these figures were expected to rise further, health experts emphasized that very few of the cases had resulted in hospitalizations.

In greater LA counties:

The L.A. County Public Health Department says so far, known cases of the swine flu have been mild.
"All these individuals are doing well, they're recovering or have fully recovered already and have not been hospitalized," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding from the L.A. County Health Department.

In San Diego counties:

Nine more people have contracted swine flu in San Diego County, bringing the total number of confirmed local cases to 24, health officials announced Monday. One of the new cases, an 18-year-old woman, was hospitalized but has since recovered, according to the HHSA.

According to a statement from San Diego State University, one of the newly confirmed cases of swine flu is a female student who lives off campus and who was previously suspected of having the virus.

Up to 70 people who came into contact with the infected student have not come down with swine flu, according to SDSU, which added the campus will remain open at the recommendation of the HHSA.

"All of those close contacts have now received preventative medication from San Diego State Student Health Services, and that preventative medication was begun within two days of contact with the initial case," said Dr. Gregg Lichtenstein.

Health officials say swine flu symptoms have been mild in San Diego County.

In Sacramento County:

No new swine flu cases in Sacramento County, possibly 3 in El Dorado County
Last Modified: Tuesday, May. 5, 2009 - 7:13 am
Sacramento County health officials said they were scaling back, while El Dorado County officials continued to be on high alert after a confirmed case of a novel strain of influenza.

CALI overall:

As of Monday afternoon, the California Department of Public Health says the number of flu cases confirmed as H1N1 in the state has reached 69. Another 121 cases were considered probable. The most recent cases have been in Amador and Calaveras counties and Berkeley.

There have been 10 hospitalizations.

Dr. Gil Chavez, who heads the California Center for Infectious Diseases, said even in the cases of those hospitalized, the disease is currently "very mild."

The state has distributed 9 million doses of anti-viral mediations such as Tamiflu to counties statewide. The medication would help lessen the severity of the flu symptoms but not prevent the disease

So, the conclusion of CA local/state news reports is that the severity level of those infected are mild. Given the most recent data of around 200 cases state-wide (though this # is highly dynamic/fluid), and only supposedly 10 state-wide hospitalizations, then only one in twenty are hospitalized. I wonder how this accurate this is, and how it compares to seasonal flu...

What I also glean from the content analysis: California is distributing Tamiflu big-time!!! 1)You get it if you think you've come in contact with a confirmed case, and 2) The state has already given out 9 MILLION DOSES to its counties! Kind of supports needing to distribute it before it expires given that there are only mild cases and few hospitalizations?

What's going on in your country, state, county, province, etc. according to local news reports, doctors, scientists, or other credible sources??

~s of j




[edit on 5-5-2009 by sonjah1]

[edit on 5-5-2009 by sonjah1]

[edit on 5-5-2009 by sonjah1]