Poll: Swine Flu contact

I live within 30 miles of Sacramento, California and I have not seen anyone who appeared to be infected, and I myself have not been sick for years.

Here in Adelaide, South Australia ... the media has just about stopped reporting on the Swine Flu ... well, except to mention the 1st confirmed death of an Aboriginal person from northern Western Australia.
Otherwise you could be forgiven for saying "Swine Flu ? ... what Swine Flu ?".

reply to post by zetabeam


Zetabeam- that's why I keep posting this- to see if ANYONE is experiencing what we are here?!?!

There are Chicago events going on (Blues Fest- normally 1+ million people in the park- about 20,000 showed up). We have the "taste of Chicago" every year- vendors set up booths and it draws millions. Traffic pylons are gong up and yet we can STILL travel easily.

There's ZERO coverage here about it- the main suburban traffic route behond our house is now mostly large trucks, municpal police, and a few commuters.

This is Chicago, for (^*)&^*&'s sake! Is there anyone else here who can correlate what we're seeing?

I feel like I'm in the Neville Shute novel, "On the Beach" and we're the last to know....

There IS traffic in the City- we're a huge metro area- but it's so markedly changed, I can't explain it.

For example- we're in the middle of a thunderstorm here- and traffic is STILL only 30 minutes downtown, from the outlying suburbs- on a day like this last year, traffic would be 2 hours, minimum.

My best conjecture is that people are ill and staying home/telecommunting; afraid of getting sick, so taking vacation days, or god forbid- something more nefarious.

I would bless info from anyone else about this.

C'mon people ... there HAS to be someone out there also from Chicago who can back up the impressions & feelings as described by CultureD in her posts. Surely if it's that marked a change from normal, then someone else MUST also be wondering ...

reply to post by zetabeam


Thank you, Zeta.

Today we went in and out of downtown Chicago- in rush hour each way. 45 minutes each way (with construction zones). Normally, 2 hours each way- 1.5 each on a good day.

The City was moving, but parking lots (normally at capacity) were maybe half-full; we're getting weekly calls from club promoters inviting us to events to fill the rooms (we used to be active in promotion/booking, etc., as a sort of hobby, so when there's an event we get phone calls). Crobar- a huge night club we all grew up going to is offering $1 drinks on Fridays with free admisssion (most likely from the economy), but when we drive by that area, it's DEAD- you can park across the street.
One of our good friends is a model who's all over the world, working. No one's booking- because none of the models/hair/makeup people will fly, risk illness or quarantine.
It was 90 degrees here today and no one was at the movie teatre, local restaurants- anything- and we live in an affluent suburb, where people are out all the time, despite the recession.

Two friends who are sisters and nurses at two suburban hospitals have said they're at capacity with respiratory illnessess, and each is taking vacation time in advance of the autumn season- to the despair of their superiors, as they're needed now.

A former client and friend- an MD/PhD at the University of Chicago Hospital has reported capacity admissions, when I called him yesterday, and many people are being sent to Chicago's Cook County Hospital, Illinois Masonic, Stroger, Northwestern, etc.

My neurosurgeon, who normally does about 50 procedures a week is keeping nearly full office hours, and only doing critical surgeries, as beds are needed at the three hospitals out of which he operates.

I have 7 girlfriends who've had their day care centres closed, and have had to take Family Medical Leave from work to care for their kids. Campsites are closed between here and Wisconsin.

We're in the middle of a terrible heat wave and the City shelters are only about half full.

Chicagoans- talk to me! Our mayor wants the 2016 Olympics and we've nowhere to put the people who would come, but this month I'd say there would be no problem in accommodating a few extra million people. It's still a functioning city, but there is something REALLY wrong with it.

Again- anyone who knows the city- talk to me !!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks again, Zetabeam- stay well and keep in touch

C'mon, people ... CultureD is genuinely concerned that something untoward is happening in her area and yet still no indication of official reaction or concern.
She can't be the only Chicagoan posting or reading here on ATS. Can somebody please give her some validation that what she has described to us is actually the case.

Again, I ask ... are any other US cities showing similar signs of social decline ?

[edit on 24/6/09 by zetabeam]

My husband, son and I were in Ocean City, MD over Father's Day weekend and at our Saturday morning breakfast there was a girl also in the restaurant that looked like death barely warmed over. She was maybe 10 years old and with her brother, mom and dad. Her skin was grey, lips pale, eyes staring and glassy. I was furious that her parents even dragged her to a public restaurant for two reasons: first because she could be infecting countless others with whatever she had, and second because they were so selfish they couldn't stay home with their very sick daughter.

I obviously have no way of knowing she had the swine flu, but she had a fever (her parents had a thick blanket wrapped around her and the mother kept pressing a cool cloth to her head), she could barely walk (her father helped her walk out the restaurant when they were finished their meal), and at one point she was escorted to the restroom by her mother where she must have thrown up (when they got back to the table her mom wiped her mouth).

I am from Lancaster, PA and do not personally know of anyone with the flu, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there and it doesn't mean it's not a serious concern. I'm 3 months pregnant right now and the statistics of pregnant women having complications after getting the swine flu are more than a little disturbing. The thought of quarantine is also terrifying, but it is seeing a little girl out at a restaurant like I saw last weekend that makes me realize that there are a lot of people that just don't utilize common sense when it comes to sickness and that is a big reason for quarantine. When adults can't make smart choices and it can effect public health (such as this pregnant mama and my one year old son), then sometimes maybe the choice needs made for them.

I can vouch for Chicago traffic being a LOT lighter than it used to be. I live in Joliet, and picked my mother up from, and dropped her back off at the airport. On the way to drop her off yesterday, we noticed traffic backed up for about five miles o the opposite side of the expressway. ten minutes later on the return trip, the traffic was completely gone. Normally, if taffic back up like that, you are looking at two hours of gridlock. It's fairly strange.

the numbers are not very high now, but we talk about an exponential growing. Even if you start with 100 cases, and you record about 5 % increase a day (so 100 today , 105 tomorrow) you can infect all the population of the Earth within one year.

Day 1 - 100 infected
Day 2 - 105 infected
Day 10 - 155 infected
Day 100 - 12500 infected
Day 150 - 150 000 infected!
Day 200 - 1.6 milion infected
Day 300 - 216 milion infected
1 year = all if us infected