Swine Flu Update - West Midlands, England

UPDATE ON THE H1N1 CRISIS IN THE WEST MIDLANDS, UK

For those of you who don't know the West Midlands is the urban region centred on Birmingham, England. It is the UK's second largest urban conurbation after Greater London. Birmingham is the UK's second city. It is located right in the middle of England, and is the hub of the major motorway and rail routes.

CURRENT SITUATION (according to local press and the local BBC news service)

-West Midlands hospitals have set up special H1N1 crisis rooms to avoid Accident & Emergency Departments from being 'overwhelmed.'

-West Midlands hospitals are no longer testing suspected H1N1 cases using swabs, except for a few to monitor the strength of the virus, due to the massive numbers now being infected. Standard 'clinical diagnosis' methods are now being used.

-Containment efforts have failed and are now being abandoned due to the large numbers of infections. People who come into contact with the infected are no longer being given anti-virals.

- At least 60 Birmingham area schools now have outbreaks and schools are remaining open as closing them failed to slow the infection.

- NHS hospitals are now preparing for 50% of their staff to be off sick at any one time.


MY PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS:

- I live just down the road from one of the region's largest hospitals (Russel's Hall) and I have noticed a distinct increase in ambulance traffic over the last few days. In fact, yesterday I was doing some local errands and pretty much every road I drove down I saw emergency ambulances on, from Kidderminster to Sedgley. Thats very unusual.

- My own mother and my girlfriend as starting to display H1N1 symptoms.




I am aware that this flu is, so far, relatively mild in most people, but I wanted to update you all because many on here still insist that it is a fraud or hoax. This flu is real, and just because your area has not been hit yet don't think you are safe. It is VERY real, and it is HERE!

I will update again soon.