Non-Vaccine Support

Hi all,

H1N1 is running rampant in my town (where isn't it?). 3 of the 4 people in my house have had it, one (the youngest) confirmed. Got word last night that MIL is now a confirmed and has been put under quarantine in the hospital.

Now, a large number of cases in town have been given a blanket diagnosis of "well you fit the symptoms so that's what you have", and have been sent home. Some have been given instructions to stay home, others (like us), have been given no instructions other than basic care/prescriptions.

I'm wondering what the justification for quarantine would be seeing as the majority of cases are being sent home with sporadic and vague instructions to avoid the general public.

Based on observations from my town, no medical professionals seem to be on the same page as far as this virus is concerned. Quarantine at this point seems futile. Are medical establishments just flying by the seat of their pants here with some taking a CYA approach to dealing with this?

It's been 2 weeks of sick/contagious people in my home and being that I've had the common sense to avoid going anywhere with contagious children, I've got the worst case of cabin fever ever! Pardon the randomness of this question, not even sure if this is the appropriate board to pose it on. I enjoy very much spending my lurking time here as well as the debate board.

On a side note, the first wave of vaccinations for H1N1 rolled out here over the weekend and about 3300 people got poked. I expected more to be running for the clinics. We had the initial diagnosis 2 days before the vax clinics started so although we were never planning on the vax, I've been able to stop several zealots with my response of " oh, well we've already had it so why would we vax for it? After all, we've got some wonderful natural immunities now" :)

Oh yes, mismanagement of the pandemic is rampant here too. I'm in western Canada.

I work in HR for a large enough company and H1N1 seems to be the most widely used reason for absences right now. The majority of employees at my work place who have seen a doc are being diagnosed without testing, being given a note for time off, antibiotics regardless of secondary infection status, and have been offered the vaccine. If you go to the ER for your symptoms, you'll most likely face a blanket diagnosis there as well. One of my co-workers took her 18 month old DD in for a high enough fever (103) with no other symptoms except crying. She was fed the H1N1 diagnosis and told to go home and wait it out. She second guessed the doctor, and took her DD to a different ER where it was found that the baby had a UTI. Others have been left in the ER hallways, on gurneys, for up to 2 days and then moved to quarantine. Seems pointless to quarantine at that point. Everyone is on a different page as far as this flu is concerned. Watching the process unfold is not helping my faith in the organizational skills of our health care system or government agencies.

I see that you are from Canada, maybe the disorganization and chaos is only happening here?

Sorry you've all been unwell, hope you are all on the mend and stay healthy :)