Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Wisconsin Second in Swine Flu Cases

What's this about?

Madison -- Wisconsin has moved into second place in the country for the number of confirmed swine flu cases.

Health officials say there are now 414 confirmed and 35 probable cases.

...More than half the cases were from Milwaukee County. The state Department of Health Services says the state's most populous county had 231 confirmed cases and 34 probable ones.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 2,532 confirmed cases and three deaths nationwide. Cases have been confirmed in 44 states.

As of Monday afternoon, the CDC reported that Illinois had the most cases - with 487 confirmed - and the next after Wisconsin was California with 191.

Why does Wisconsin have so many cases?

We have dramatically more cases than states bordering Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Why?

Are people in Wisconsin, Milwaukee in particular, less likely to wash their hands and cover their mouths when they cough and sneeze?

Why are we the state with the second highest amount of confirmed swine flu cases?

What's the explanation? Any theories?

What's the story?

3 comments:

jimspice said...

I think it's simply a matter of being located next to the leader, Illinois. Northwestern University is producing some very interesting flu projections (use the Java Applet for state by state, and even county by county projections) utilizing air and commuter traffic patterns, and the flow of US dollar bills as tracked by WheresGeorge.com.

Expectations, at least by this model, are for cases to boom in the Northeast over the next two weeks.

Mary said...

Thanks for the links and info.

It will be interesting to see if the projections pan out.

Unknown said...

After seeing today's figures reported by the CDC for confirmed and probable cases of the H1N1 virus strain of the Swine Flu, I asked myself, why Wisconsin?

The Health officials with the CDC and the state of Wisconsin say the numbers in Wisconsin could reflect a more efficient testing and reporting system than what other states have. Seth Boffeli, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Health Department, said the difference in states' caseloads might reflect a difference in testing policies. He said that up until a week ago, the state was testing everyone being treated for flu symptoms, while several other states tested only hospitalized patients or people with severe symptoms.

In addition, Boffeli said, Wisconsin had five full-time labs, including two in Milwaukee, for testing for the H1N1 virus.

"We've heard some states have backlogs of 12,000 cases, but we don't have any," he said.

Personally, I do not think it may have much to do with the fact that Wisconsin neighbors Illinois. As a matter fact, as of today, the CDC is reporting that Wisconsin is in first place for the number confirmed and probable cases. However,I do think that Wisconsin has been more arduous in their testing; and if other states were as diligent, then we might see a marked increase in confirmed and probable cases in other states as well.

Stay well!
Juan David De Jesus
http://juandejesus.blogspot.com/