CA: 2nd Probable Death in Sonoma County

[appleblossom]

2nd probable swine flu death in county

By MARTIN ESPINOZA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Friday, July 10, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, July 10, 2009 at 4:03 a.m.

Health officials said Thursday a Sonoma County man who died of pneumonia July 7 probably was infected with the H1N1 virus, marking the second area death linked to swine flu.

On June 19, an elderly man became the first Sonoma County resident to die after acquiring the new virus.

The more recent death involved a man who had a very serious, unrelated health problem, said Dr. Mark Netherda, Sonoma County deputy public health officer.

Netherda also said there have been 15 confirmed and 40 probable cases of swine flu documented in the county. But he said these numbers do not truly convey the prevalence of the virus in the county, since not every suspected case of swine flu is being tested.

"Patients that we're trying to test now are hospitalized patients," Netherda said. "There have been some other people that have died but they weren't tested because their deaths were not unexpected. (????) They were people at the end of life who may have been exposed, people that had other underlying serious medical conditions."


http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090710/NEWS/907101085/1350?Title=2nd-probable-swine-flu-death-in-county

 

[appleblossom]

Re: CA: 2nd Probable Death in Sonoma County

"There have been some other people that have died but they weren't tested because their deaths were not unexpected. They were people at the end of life who may have been exposed, people that had other underlying serious medical conditions."

so we've now moved from not testing all the cases of illness to not testing all the deaths. Are we following a 1918 script, because no one gave me my copy.

 

[JimO]

Re: CA: 2nd Probable Death in Sonoma County

This is worrisome. Not only will there not be an accurate CFR, they demographics will be skewed such that it will appear even more evident that the flu predominantly young people. Even though the demographics are different from seasonal flu, I believe it's important to know how differt they really are.

 

[rootcellargal]

Re: CA: 2nd Probable Death in Sonoma County

Hi,

Not sure if I should have started a new thread (not sure how to do it eitherem). Today Aug. 18 my local paper, www.pressdemocrat.com has a big article on swine flu on the front page( for a change). In it they quote the local health department as saying there are 5 confirmed swine flu deaths in the county. I only knew about 3 deaths as of a few weeks ago, when the health department said they would no longer announce deaths. Could someone who is better at this stuff please post the relevant sentences or two and add to our case counts? I have not heard anything at all about these 2 additional deaths but will keep my ears perked for information.

I would really appreciate it. Also, a PM telling me how to post articles on the forum would be helpful. Thanks much!

 

[JimO]

Re: CA: 2nd Probable Death in Sonoma County

Thanks for posting rootcellargal. The most recent state tally showed 4 deaths as of last Friday, which is what I had from previous media reports, but I didn't have any details either. I'll post any related articles I find.