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Swine Flu Victims Could Swamp Hospitals

CDC estimates are more than US can handle

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 1, 2009 2:10 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Hospitals will be in big trouble if the swine flu outbreak matches the flu pandemic of 1968. In that mild pandemic, 35% of Americans got sick. If that happened today, 15 states would run out of hospital beds, and another dozen would have to fill 75% of their beds with nothing but flu victims, according to a new report based on CDC computer models.

“Our point in doing this is not to cry Chicken Little,” says the director of the group behind the study, “but really to point out the potential even a mild pandemic can have and how readily that can overwhelm the health care delivery system.”

Dr. Jeffrey Starke, right, Chairman of the Infection Control Committee at Texas Children's Hospital, answers a question about the death of a child from swine flu, April 29, 2009.
Dr. Jeffrey Starke, right, Chairman of the Infection Control Committee at Texas Children's Hospital, answers a question about the death of a child from swine flu, April 29, 2009.   (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
A woman wearing a protective mask as a precaution against swine flu waits to be attended at a hospital in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Wednesday, July 29, 2009.
A woman wearing a protective mask as a precaution against swine flu waits to be attended at a hospital in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Wednesday, July 29, 2009.   (AP Photo/Pablo Barrera)
A worker prepares to put up a signboard as people queue up to test for swine flu virus at a specially set-up H1N1 screening center in this file photo.
A worker prepares to put up a signboard as people queue up to test for swine flu virus at a specially set-up H1N1 screening center in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Netstorm2k10
Oct 2, 2009 12:24 PM CDT
They keep telling us to be scared, and then the statistics make them liars. Don't they realize we all see through them?
riffran
Oct 2, 2009 7:27 AM CDT
let me tell ya...everybody in the area sneezes once and they run to the ER "OMG OMG OMG Ihave the FLUUUUUUU".....or drag their kids in at three in the morning for a 99.0 temp, and they get mad when we have to tell them ...its the flu, youve had it too long for tamiflu to work...go home and drink plenty of fluids, tylenol and motrin for aches and fever....no antibiotics, no vicodin for the headache ..lol...thank you mainstream media for panicking the whole country
zackmasson
Oct 2, 2009 6:19 AM CDT
I'm scared, you got all these random people telling you whats up. I want to hear from that scientist in the laboratory whose been studying it heavily for some time. Id like to see a channel dedicated to scientist where they can speak out and all peer reviewed and truthful.
Health • US

 
hospitals • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • pandemic • swine flu • H1N1 virus

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