One of the best pieces of advice I got this week was from a physician (not mine) who said if you are ever going to get a flu shot, this is the year to do it. I have gotten them in the past, including every year when I was in the military, but have been lax the last few years. I take two aspirin right before and a couple of more four hours later and never feel sick.
I did say that I wish Obama had given the CDC temporary authority in this type of situation. Some protocol and experience is better than none. And yet, it was the CDC's PPE and symptom thresholds that changed several times in the last 10 days. If they can't settle on what's accurate, how is the public supposed to trust them. Then with the communication....pamphlets that tell foreign travelers in the US to call their doctor if they have symptoms and have been to a hot country recently? That is just a disaster waiting to happen. Then they instruct certain people to call the CDC but they don't have enough staff to handle the call volume (I doubt they included the likelihood that nervous nellies would call too), and they are way behind in follow up. The danger there is people are being told little or nothing and could be wandering around spreading more virus. Exactly who at the CDC told nurse #2 it was okay to fly that weekend? It's like Red and Mancha alluded to earlier. The CDC is likely full of medical experts who think and operate with a different part of the brain than most and with precise measurements, etc. They should have included a human behaviorist on their team because that's the part they missed. For example, IMO, nurse #2 probably did have some symptoms before she reported the elevated temp but with an upcoming wedding and bridal party plans to tend to, she ignored or was in denial about those symptoms. I'm still trying to figure out what in hell Dr. Nicole Lurie's job is, why she is getting paid anything at all, and why is she so completely absent from the coverage when this was her wheelhouse and job to begin with.
The hospital will be careful about doing this because it could signal liability when the inevitable lawsuit is filed. The CDC probably won't because we need their expertise and this was sort of the unexpected trial run. From the larger government.....well, Dr. Nicole Lurie should have her ass fired and her salary to help offset the cost of the new czar's salary. Clearly he is expected to do something and for months, she has done nothing.
No telling--but I guess that's likely. That or I brought it home from my school or she got it during the 9 hours a week she's at her dance studio.
There are no guarantees that the vaccine will be matched to the circulating virus in any given season. Even when it is matched, there are varying benefits.
