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| Crude death rates for pneumonia + flu for the years 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 combined. Values vary from 8.1/100 in Colorado to 26.8/100 in West Virginia |
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| Key for the state-level data. Requested by a reader. |
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| At the county level |
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| A weird pattern |
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| Key for data at the county level |
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| Deaths by month. Most of the deaths are "Pneumonia" |
For what it is worth, I touched bases with one of my "sources" and he said that he has not diagnosed significantly more cases of pneumonia this December to expects cases to increase in January.
Any information from readers with boots-on-the-ground? I am pretty sure I have at least a couple of readers who work in Emergency Rooms.
Worth noting: the missing 2020 and 2021 data. Buncha flu got re-branded as covid. All Y'all, please shove that fact at the covid " true beleivers" every chance you get.
ReplyDeleteI did not include that data because of the concerns that you raised. I only have 400-to-600 words and I try to only cover one issue at a time.
DeleteThe chemtrails have been relentless the last few months in the SW VA/WV/TN area.
ReplyDeleteI gotta ask. I am Albertan and not well versed in Yank demographics and geography.... but is there a possible racial correlation in any of that? I dunno if it is racist or not to notice if someone indulges in unhealthy and self destructive habits anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe diagonal slash of the "check mark" pattern is Appalachia and very heavily weighted to English/Scot/Irish genetics.
DeleteLouisiana and the vertical part of the check mark along the Mississippi is very heavily weighted with African-Americans.
One striking contrast is between Indiana and Illinois. Indiana looking very good and Illinois having many very high death-rate counties.
I also work at several local hospitals and they are all covered up with flu patients....
ReplyDeleteHistorically pneumonia deaths are a fraction of what they were a century+ ago and are confined mostly to the old and the very young. So far this season flu is up...but I've seen worse seasons. As for pneumonia, I am not seeing any more than normal for winter. This of course is always subject to rapid change without notice.
ReplyDeleteAbout a third of our ER and admissions are for flu and such.
ReplyDeleteNot unusual looking at yearly data.
Older folks and obese seem to suffer the most.
Michael the anonymous
2nd hand info from a Nursing Supervisor who works at two different hospitals in northern Minnesota. She tells me they are getting overrun in the ER's with flu cases.
ReplyDeleteIn the autumn the BBC tried to scare us all with hysterical rubbish about "superflu" striking Britain. The cries have died down - it seems to be a pretty normal flu season. Such a pity that they didn't pipe down after the early hysteria about Covid.
ReplyDeleteThe chatter on the internet seems to be lots of muscle and joint pain on days three, four and five and then three weeks of recovery to get back to 95% energy.
DeleteI am resigned to both Mrs ERJ and me getting it. I just hope we don't have any overlap in days three, four and five.
May I suggest prevention with more handwashing (some 99% of all bugs get to your eyes, nose and mouth from your fingers) plenty of rest, plenty of fluids and most of all fermented foods like live culture Kimchee.
DeleteIf you have any doubt how often you touch your face I suggest applying Tabasco to your fingers in the morning, wash lightly as to reduce impact. We used that in OR training to get folks aware of face touching. No point of wearing sterile gloves if you're touching your dirty facemask.
When I was in Korea I had early on before getting local eating habits a case of the "I wanna DIE" flu. Bed rest, hacking, cough syrup with codeine the works.
My KATUSA soldiers forced me out of bed and dragged be to a bar where I was fed Kimchee chicken soup. I destroyed that bars supply of nose wipes, toilet paper and felt so good the next morning I took PT with the troops. Was weak but clear.
I've worked the hospital for decades through BAD FLU years, H1N1, Ebola scare, Avian Flu and COVID with extremely few days feeling poorly.
Whenever I get feeling poorly, I make whole chicken soup roasted, stripped of a few meals of meat, boil the carcass skin and all, cool, remove bones and skin. Cool, remove grease. Add some cooked rice maybe some frozen veggies reheat and after serving add as much live culture kimchee as you can stand.
I've gotten my beloved wife to almost like kimchee because it cleared her so often as she also works in the hospital where all those really sick folks go to.
I got my husband to eat kimchi by adding a touch of mayo and calling it "kimchi slaw." (It takes way less mayo than regular cole slaw, which I count as a plus). If it's too tart for his taste, I add a few raisins. Now he'll eat large helpings as opposed to an obligatory spoonful of plain kimchi.
DeleteNice trick, I'll try that with my beloved.
DeleteFermented foods are something the "Modern Diet" (with all these "odd ills") doesn't have.
"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food" is attributed to Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician known as the father of medicine, emphasizing the profound connection between nutrition and health.
My home is in one of the dark blue counties. I can confirm Filthie's suspicion that very poor life choices are at least partially responsible for this.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how that regional pattern correlates to air quality?
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of factors influencing the progression from "it's just the flu" to nearly dying from pneumonia, ranging from cultural to environmental to genetic.
The most vulnerable tend to be older folks on either extreme, both the gaunt (no caloric reserves) as well as the significantly obese.
I had “Walking pneumonia” as an post-infection of swine flu, I didn't think much of it until I realized it had caused me to lose my appetite and about 5 pounds.
Not a recommended weight loss method, especially if you don't have 5 pounds to lose!
Air quality at the east end of the Ohio River drainage is poor. Air quality in Louisiana is poor. Air quality in southern Appalachia is very good. Air quality in the north-mid Mississippi valley is variable...ag chemicals, dust and pollen being the major issues.
DeleteLooks a lot like the coal belt. Bad lungs?
ReplyDeleteI think most coal miners died off. There are not that many people going underground to mine coal.
DeleteTobacco and other kinds of smoke are possible factors. Emphysema as a pre-existing condition probably makes pneumonia more lethal.
Looks to me like Appalachia joined with the Mississippi river plain. Two different demographics with similar "issues".
ReplyDeleteNote that Appalachia is aging fast and that doesn't help either.
Jonathan
The aging can be tested by looking at a narrower slice of ages so numbers are not diluted by "kids".
DeleteFor ages 65-84, the crude death-rates for flu + pneumonia for five selected states are
Mississippi: 86/100k
West Virginia: 71/100k
New York: 61/100k
Texas: 43/100k
Colorado: 24/100k
That is odd. To put it mildly!
ReplyDeleteYour high incidence area is characterized by lower incomes and older wood construction homes and businesses which harbor bacteria and molds.
ReplyDeleteInteresting but most homes in our area are older and many multi-generational homes passed on low income folks live there. NH seems to stay on the lower end of the COVID-Flu issue list.
DeleteLooking at that map again. Perhaps knock on effects of industry and maybe water pollution? Low level toxins are permitted by water "safety" limits.
DeleteNot necessarily, and as usual the details matter.
DeleteTo give one example from when I worked in West Virginia: for public drinking water systems, the federal and state standards for chlorine, bacteria, etc were the same - but where they were measured was different.
The federal standard measured them leaving the water treatment plant. West Virginia measures them at the point of use (faucet, shower, etc).
Where I worked was at the end of a big water line with low usage (unbuilt industrial park). We met federal standards but not state.
Jonathan