Involuntarily Isolation????? What is that

[ANewMe]

What is involuntary isolation???

 

 

Suspected Cases Of Swine Flu Found In North Carolina

 

State health officials have found possible cases of swine flu but have not identified where they are or how many.

 

Raleigh, NC -- State health officials say there are suspected cases of swine flu in North Carolina, but investigators declined to say how many cases or where they were located.

 

Dr. Jeffrey Engel, the state health director, said Monday evening that officials are involuntarily isolating patients who may have the virus. But he said the handful of cases are sporadic and in different parts of the state.

 

ON THE WEB: More Information On Swine Flu

 

Investigators are gathering specimens and hope to know whether the cases are "probable" some time Tuesday and will seek confirmations by Wednesday.

 

Engel said the suspected cases are related to travel, mostly to Mexico. He said nobody has been hospitalized and that the suspected cases have been ordered to in-home isolation.

 

 

[sassenach]

Involuntary isolation of sick persons is to keep them out of the public realm so they don't keep exposing others. They probably are staying at home trying to get over this flu. It is being done with sick students in other places so affected already.

Certainly the health officials dealing with this want to try and contain it as quickly as possible. So far its just a few folks basically.

The point is to try and contain it so it does not spread. It may include family members as well. So far not many folks in the ages 25-45 yr range are sick as of yet here, but that is the age group that has the most deaths in Mexico. ( This also happened in the 1918 flu epidemic. )

Voluntary or not... isolating the sick ones is important.

[westbrook]

pisses me off!!! we tell those with the flu.. YOU MUST STAY IN YOUR HOME... but those with aids you can't even know if the person that just raped you has it!

 

am I the only one that thinks something is wrong here? how come they don't call aids or herpes a pandemic?

[Louis1]

It is just what it sounds like - involuntarily isolation, incarceration, held without charge or representation ........

[Louis1]

pisses me off!!! we tell those with the flu.. YOU MUST STAY IN YOUR HOME... but those with aids you can't even know if the person that just raped you has it!

 

am I the only one that thinks something is wrong here? how come they don't call aids or herpes a pandemic?

 

Well, most with aids come from one or two of the more elite and privileged segments of society ................

[JCK88]

pisses me off!!! we tell those with the flu.. YOU MUST STAY IN YOUR HOME... but those with aids you can't even know if the person that just raped you has it!

am I the only one that thinks something is wrong here? how come they don't call aids or herpes a pandemic?

 

Uh...Westie! They DO call AIDS a pandemic. Since 2006 or 2007 (I forget which) , it has been considered exactly that. The difference in the need for making people stay home with flu and not with AIDS is that direct contact with infected bodily fluids spreads AIDS while the virus for flu is airborne--and you can get it just breathing the same air with a sick person. Herpes is considered the worst pandemic in world history. These ARE pandemics, but a pandemic situation doesn't always call for isolation or quarentine when it is primarily a sexually transmitted disease--the viruses just don't behave the same, so the deal is a whole other thing than flu. I guess we don't think of herpes and AIDS as pandemics, but they are classified as such. (Which I did not know until you posted that question. I just HAD to look it up...LOL)

[Cat]

Back to the subject at hand...

 

 

Does it bother *anyone* else that they say this:

 

State health officials have found possible cases of swine flu but have not identified where they are or how many.

 

Raleigh, NC -- State health officials say there are suspected cases of swine flu in North Carolina, but investigators declined to say how many cases or where they were located.

 

 

So they "know" but are not telling...

 

How many MORE are the same???

 

Do you REALLY believe we have "only 40 cases" (last I read)?????

 

 

 

[ANewMe]

Ok...here is what I'm gathering and I'm trying to look at this very levelly.

 

Arby...I understand isolation....but does INVOLUNTARY bother anyone else? I mean if I was sick and there was a chance of me spreading you bet your tail they would have no problems with me volunteering to stay inside....so what's up with INVOLUNTARY?

 

I have been reading a large thread collaboration on another board. There are several Dr.'s, microbiologist etc there. They are all concerned for many different reasons. Anyone interested in reading what I've been reading PM and I'll give you the link. They have pulled everything to one forum and all are contributing as much info with sources as they can find and discussing it. Also people are talking about what they are experiencing. Very interesting read.

 

One point to mention if flu kills 36,000 Americans annually why all the hooplah on this one?

 

Am I the only one that seems to think something is missing in this equation.....you have the reported numbers and statistics of those affected and deceased then you have the Govt/CDC/WHO response. Is it me or does this just not add up?

 

I hope that we will all look back and think Whewww....but I just don't know.

 

I went to Dr. today. My Dr happens to be old friend and he joked as he walked in the door "Hey guys she has Swine!" of course, I was the last patient. He said that their phones had run off the hook today with people saying that they had been exposed, that they had it, knew someone who might have it and want a shot. He said that they have heard from just about anyone you can imagine. You could tell that he was worn out. He did not seem too concerned but i think he was just fed up with the whole thing on top of his normal Monday load. He told me that Tamiflu would not work which is different than what is put out there by MSM.

 

Me...I have a bad case of bronchitis and luckily I get to stay home tommorrow. I will be in bed tracking this thing all day...tommorrow may prove to be busy.

 

Oh...and while I was in Dr office my husband called to say that his job was sending him to Pleasant, TX which is down below San Antonio. He was gone before I got home...I aint happy about it either.

[ScrubbieLady]

Sounds like he went to Pleasanton, Texas. Nice town, not too small. Right below San Antonio. About 200 miles from Mexico going south, I am not sure going west.

 

I am curious about people dying in Mexico from the same flu that is not causing serious consequences in the US. Someone asserted that it might be that some people were not tested for swine flu, the deaths were thought to be from swine flu(in Mexico). I worry about how Mexico handled it by not talking, not investigating, etc. But I also worry that possibly the US is doing the same thing. The not talking part I mean.

[dogmom4]

It bothers me! The national news keeps saying the confirmed cases are only in southern cal. Yet, on our news here in northern cal there are 3 confirmed cases and I haven't seen them added. Are they just being slow to make it not look so bad?

[ANewMe]

Dogmom....that is not true. Take MSM with a grain of salt. Look at all info portals and form your own opinion. Check out cdc.gov....there are other sites that have been listed here with maps that map it out

[Mt_Rider]

If our experience with wildfire some years back is any indication.....

 

The first days/weeks of any crisis will be filled with misinformation and lack of organization. It's not easy to all join hands and get late-breaking news collated and straightened out. But firm data is just what we all want and need in any crisis.

 

Despite the effort to KNOW what to do if *this* happens....people don't really know what to do. From large cities to tiny communities like ours...it's just tiny individuals doing a job that will be unfamiliar and frightening to them. [Except the professionals at CDC, etc but they can't handle it all.] Some individuals/organizations will be overreacting and some will be under-reacting with their heads ..in the sand. This generation hasn't done this on any large scale before and....we just can't predict how this might be handled. [God help us!]

 

I'd be taking everything with a grain of salt for a while......

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Well, actually, I'll be taking everything with a spoonful of chocolate icecream.....

 

 

 

MtRider

[ANewMe]

Posted to wrong thread....sorry

 

[JCK88]

To get back to the original question...what is involuntary isolation? This is actually a legal term. Yes, it involves court-ordered quarantine, sometimes in a "secure" facility. Or it could include martial law where everyone is ordered to stay at home.

 

If you do a search on it, you will find the legal guidelines for this action in various circumstances, there are guidelines for when to invoke the law for involuntary isolation for many diseases such as tuberculosis, for example.

[ChristyK]

ANEwME ~ the localnews this morning said that there are two suspected cases in Buncombe County, NC (Asheville).

Here's a link to their story: NChttp://www.wlos.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/wlos_vid_2518.shtml, but they didn't elaborate. The NC News Network on the radio simply said there were several cases that had been tetsed but that Health Officials declined to say how many or where they were.

 

There is a a corporation called VeraTect that is updating in basically real-time on Twitter; I've been following it, it's been really food and accurate. VeraTect at Twitter

 

: Christy

[LeeAnn]

One point to mention if flu kills 36,000 Americans annually why all the hooplah on this one?

 

Am I the only one that seems to think something is missing in this equation.....you have the reported numbers and statistics of those affected and deceased then you have the Govt/CDC/WHO response. Is it me or does this just not add up?

 

"Never let a good crisis go to waste" .......... this, according to Rahm Emmanuel, Whitehouse Chief of Staff.....and so what an opportunity to ram Kathleen Sebelius, nominee for Health and Human Service Director, down the throats of the American people. This pro late term abortion advocate was getting a lot of push back on her nomination.

 

With this administration, you must always ask yourself if the right hand is doing this, what is the left hand doing.

 

[Mt_Rider]

The "hoopla" on this one is because in Mexico, it is killing like The Other kind of flu. The 1918 kind. Not our usual annual type of flu. [usual type kills very young, elderly and those with existing respiratory problems....this one is killing formerly healthy young adults] That's what has them scared.

 

They are thinking of the mutations - which occur often in influenza. If the mutations causes virulence to increase; the mortality rate to increase; and especially if the rate of contagion gets faster/easier [like: it goes totally airborne..not just carried on droplets]....then we are in much deeper doodoo.

 

 

MtRider [trying to remember data from "second-hand" listening to many of DH's audio books on nasty things like hanta virus, Marburgs, rabbit fever, etc.... ICK!]

 

 

 

 

[CoM]

Does anyone remember that Obama WAS sick on his trip? I can't find exactly any reference to it other than this video.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjw7Y3S5Lk

[Cricket]

Involuntary isolation? Darn skippy!!! Think Typhoid Mary.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon

[Motherhen]

Perhaps wrong area for this...but in quickly reading this, are "you" saying that its not just a matter of touching something that an infected person has touched--and then touching your eye, mouth, etc..but it can be caught by breathing the same air---and I don't mean if they cough or sneeze...Or am I misunderstanding this?

[JCK88]

Perhaps wrong area for this...but in quickly reading this, are "you" saying that its not just a matter of touching something that an infected person has touched--and then touching your eye, mouth, etc..but it can be caught by breathing the same air---and I don't mean if they cough or sneeze...Or am I misunderstanding this?

 

If you meant my post, then yes, that is what I am saying and no, you did not misunderstand it. Infected people don't necessarily have to cough or sneeze to spread the virus. They just need to breathe close to you or speak to you and exhale some virus that you then breathe in. All flu viruses are airborne viruses. This means someone can cough, and the virus lands on the doorknob, then you touch it...etc. Or it can mean, you stand on the bus two feet from someone, and have a conversation... then you can get it if you breathe in the air they exhale. Remember, a person can be spreading the flu before they even realize they are sick because they are contagious a day or two before they come down with symptoms. No coughing has to be involved. A hug, a handshake, a hearty hello...all of all of which requires breathing in close proximity to others would do the trick.

 

I should have just written "this is an airborne virus " rather than "you can get it by breathing the same air" in order to be more clear. Would this have helped?

 

In airplanes, where the air is recirculated, you'd get exposed just by breathing, for example, if someone infected coughed in the cabin or if enough infected people just breathed!. If you are too close to a sick person, every time they speak or breathe, you'd be at risk of exposure. This is why the N95 masks are flying off the shelves. If you have a sick person to care for, you'd surely need these.

 

You'd risk getting this virus if you breathed the same air someone coughed in or if when they talked to you, they were breathing in your face closer than six feet away. This is why it is said to stay six feet away from people who are sick with it unless you are wearing a surgical mask that protects. Yes, this is an airborne virus, not just surface virus where you only get it if you have direct touching contact with it from a surface that's infected and then touch your eyes or nose, etc.

 

In my post, I was talking about the STD viruses which required direct contact and bodily fluid exchange, versus this flu virus, which is airborne. (which means you can get it breathing the same air as an infected person if you are too close to them--which is why healthcare people wear masks and protective clothing when caring for swine flu patients) For example, you can't catch AIDS walking past an infected person in the subway. You CAN catch flu virus walking by if they coughed or spoke to you or exhaled. It is not known exactly how contagious this strain of the flu is--or exactly how long it lives in the air or on surfaces. This strain of flu is spread the same way as other flu viruses -- through the air when a person who has the virus sneezes, coughs, or speaks. People can also catch the virus after touching an object that someone with the virus sneezed or coughed on. As with other flu viruses, people who have the virus can be contagious a day or so before their symptoms start, so they can pass it on before they even know they're sick.

[TurtleMama]

Miss Judy,

 

I read the same thing on the CDC website...about the fact that "close contact" is considered six feet or less from a contagious patient. Jeez Louise, this bug can JUMP!!

 

I have been thinking about the fact that this Swine flu is contagious from one day before the onset of symptoms until up to seven days after -- that, along with an approximately five-day incubation period, makes me think that there are a lot more sick people out there than we even know about yet. I guess we'll start seeing, within about two weeks, whether this flu is going to peter out on its own (which would be wonderful), or whether we're going to head toward a true pandemic stage.

 

 

[Teaberry]

JCK and Turtle, that's good information in your posts. All I might add is that the masks may block open sneezing and coughs, but the virus particles are so tiny that the masks really do not fully protect from the virus. In that sense, I think they're problematic because they give a false sense of security much like potassium iodate does when it comes to radiation exposure. PI protects the thyroid, but that's all it protects.

 

My two cents from researching this years ago is that if the death rate from this flu begins skyrocketing or if it takes off this fall, the only really safe option is to quarantine. So we all need to be preparing for a complete quarantine as much as we're able to. See if your husband can work from home. Home school your kids.

 

I feel like a doofus saying this because I have the flu now and the doctor took a swine flu swab test. I'm awaiting the results now. I was out in public a lot last week and did not see this coming. I doubt I have it though - that would be just too wierd.

 

 

[Granny]

(((Teaberry))) Hope you feel better soon. Any kind of flu can be miserable. Glad to hear doc went ahead and did swab test to verify type. Good point on this fall as no matter how current cases "peak" out, we should watch for "second/third wave" this fall.

 

 

[TurtleMama]

Oh, Teaberry.... I sure will be hoping that your flu comes back type B! I feel so bad for you...you must be nervous waiting for that test to come back.

 

Granny, I've been thinking about the homeschooling thing...my son is set to start Kindergarten next year, and even though we're sending him to a local charter school that has smaller classes, I've been worrying about his possible exposure to the flu in school. Homeschooling was an option I was thinking about for a long time, but we have him in pre-K preschool and he's loved every single second of it. I'm just so uncertain. It would be voluntary isolation, but is it worth it at this point? Hmmm....