Hawaii follows the unfortunate precedent set by Indonesia’s health minister Dr. Siti Fadilah Supari, who reports H5N1 cases when she’s in the mood for it. Via mlive.com: Hawaii won’t detail swine flu’s spread.
Hawaii’s Department of Health will stop providing daily updates of new swine flu cases next week.
Spokeswoman Janice Okubo says health officials are shifting their emphasis from reporting on the outbreak’s spread to prevention measures.
Numbers of swine flue cases will still be provided on a weekly basis.
As of May 29, the CDC had Hawaii with 71 confirmed cases. And the CDC, like the Public Health Agency of Canada, is reporting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
This may be administratively and politically convenient, but when the world’s healthcare systems are scrambling to keep track of H1N1, it’s a serious hindrance. How it will improve Hawaii’s “prevention measures” is beyond me.
