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Alaskan transparency = evaporation

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  • Alaskan transparency = evaporation

    Yesterday I sent the Alaska DHSS a nice email about the fact the swine flu numbers hadn't been updated since September 2nd. I said that while the case counts had become somewhat irrelevant, the hospital totals might motivate some people to practice better prevention strategies.

    Today - the chart of confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths is - GONE!

    Poof!



    .
    "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

  • #2
    Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

    That is not reassuring!

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    • #3
      Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

      Maybe novel H1N1 no longer exists in Alaska.

      .
      "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

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      • #4
        Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

        Gee AlaskaDenise, you're very lucky to live in a state where it's non-existent.
        "There's a chance peace will come in your life - please buy one" - Melanie Safka
        "The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be" - Socrates

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        • #5
          Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

          I emailed the state's largest newspaper and TV network about the situation. Perhaps their inquiries will remedy this problem.

          .
          "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

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          • #6
            Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

            Sad, kind of scarey... but also kind of expected??

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            • #7
              Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

              Why expected?

              .
              "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                I've seen a lot of things taken offline lately. Could be coincidence.

                Maybe in this case, they are updating the stats. They do have to be really current to have any value, since it seems like pandemics spike suddenly. I'm no expert, though. That is just the impression I got from a quick look at charts for 1918.
                _____________________________________________

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                • #9
                  Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                  Originally posted by Emily View Post
                  I've seen a lot of things taken offline lately. Could be coincidence.

                  Maybe in this case, they are updating the stats. .........
                  They usually update the stats every Wednesday & I check repeatedly on Wednesdays. I've never seen the chart disappear.

                  I suspect that since case numbers are increasing, they choose not to address the issue.

                  I'm hoping it's an update or format change problem.

                  Maybe they'll drop the case counts and leave only hospitalization and deaths - which would be the only meaningful numbers these days. Maybe they've run out of adequate test kits for all hospitalized cases, so they feel the numbers wouldn't be accurate.

                  I'd be very alarmed if any state decided to have a total blackout of meaningful statistics.

                  .
                  "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

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                  • #10
                    Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                    I went looking through the state's general influenza page and found various numbers, but not neatly presented as before on the H1N1 page.

                    statewide there are:

                    886 cases positive for influenza A (eff. 9/16) and

                    151 cases of influenza B (eff. 9/8).

                    There are 17 hospitalizations for all influenza as of 9/14).

                    IF all the influenza A cases are novel H1N1, then the total confirmed cases has doubled since 9/2.

                    .
                    "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                      AlaskaDenise, your emails are obviously not unnoticed.

                      In this instance they removed the outdated information. Hopefully, the local news media, which should function as watchdogs on the public reporting of pandemic information, will pick up and follow this story.

                      Access to the current numbers of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths, should be the right of every citizen in every state in the USA. It should be concise, clear, and easy to locate online. There is no excuse for obscuring the information or providing obfuscating links.
                      http://novel-infectious-diseases.blogspot.com/

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                      • #12
                        Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                        I should really hope that the page was only down because they were updating the information and it just took a wee bit longer than expected to update. OK, now they have a polite, somewhat plausible explanation........Therefore, time to release the updated information in its normal friendly format.
                        Please, keep the sick ones out of circulation for 10-12 days from first symptoms. Reduce the spread, Reduce the shedding, Reduce the Mortality. Please keep reporting the numbers AND it would be very nice to know what counties the deaths are happening in!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                          Normal Wednesday updates don't take long and I've never seen the chart disappear. I wouldn't expect to see this resolved until at least Monday afternoon.

                          At the bottom of the Influenza Surveillance (all types) page is a little headline called "Historic Data." The second entry "May – August 2009 Alaska Laboratory-Confirmed 2009 H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Cases" is the same chart they've been using, but ending on August 31, 2009. It appears they had no intention of continuing to present clear data about novel H1N1 cases!

                          The only meaningful number on the whole page is a hospitalizations bar chart - they went up from 15 on 9/7 to 17 on 9/14 - but that is for all ILI.

                          R hiza will have a good time deciphering these numbers.

                          .
                          "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

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                          • #14
                            Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                            I wouldn't expect to see this resolved until at least Monday afternoon.
                            I got a response from them - stamped 7:28 PM today!

                            They wanted to know if I got an answer to my questions. So I responded "NO" and with a similar request as the first time.

                            .
                            "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Alaskan transparency = evaporation

                              I received this reply this morning...

                              Dear Denise xxxxxx,



                              A colleague forwarded your message about the state?s pandemic flu Web site, which links to the epidemiology page with charts and graphs of data.



                              The surveillance page now only tracks influenza-like illness, not specifically H1N1, and includes a bar graph that shows a week to week account of the number of influenza hospitalizations and deaths since September 1, along with another graph showing those numbers by age group.



                              Unlike before, the site does not now show a table of influenza deaths and hospitalizations because the state isn?t tracking the total number of cases; posting a table without case numbers would not provide enough context to the data.



                              The epidemiology department handles the updates on that page and I will send your message along to generate a discussion. They?re the medical people around here and may have many reasons for not using a table of hard numbers?which I, too, found easy to understand and use?but perhaps they can come up with another way of presenting the information.



                              Thanks again for your comment.



                              Dxxxx Sxxxx

                              Information Officer II

                              Alaska Dept. of Health & Social Services

                              .
                              "The next major advancement in the health of American people will be determined by what the individual is willing to do for himself"-- John Knowles, Former President of the Rockefeller Foundation

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