Anybody want to guess?

[petmoosie]

Why are the numbers of H1N1 cases so high in Illinois (466) and Wisconsin (357)?

Weather stayed cool/cold longer?

More time spent indoors/ in groups?

More testing?

Comments

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I do know that some Chicago cases had direct connections to Mexico. My neighborhood (Rogers Park) has a large population of Mexican immigrants and therefore I would hypothesize direct transmission from relatives visiting/visiting from Mexico for initial infection. The first confirmed case was a 12 yr old girl who went to school 3 blocks from my apartment. By the time the school was closed they were at 12% absences.

I postulate that combined with more time spent indoors/in groups/families was responsible for the rapid spread at least here. My possible infection was via handouts at a large indoor public event with lots of schoolkids.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

I think we had pretty good direct transmission from Mexico, just much less in-community transmission.

It is also possible that there is a larger population of people with underlying risk conditions, such that they need the testing.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

The Chicago outbreak was fairly early in the process, and at the time the recommendations were to test everyone who showed symptoms. The switch to "if your symptoms are mild/moderate stay home" happened the night before I got sick, after some schools had been closed for 2 days already.

However, I think another possibility might be the affected population lacking access to regular medical care and instead using the ER as the primary source. Hospital protocols for testing are different than if you just call your primary care physician like I did.

[petmoosie.livejournal.com]

This theory has to account not only for the difference between Chicago and the suburbs of DC, but for the difference between Chicago and Boston, New York, LA, San Diego and Detroit.

But Milwaukee and Chicago both are high in cases.