China Experiencing Pneumonia Outbreak

Northern China is experiencing a pneumonia outbreak that appears to be affecting children (unlike COVID). Public health officials are paying attention, but see no reason to believe a new pandemic is on its way. 

Chinese officials were initially accused of being less than transparent, as they were about COVID. But they have now met with WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove. She told Stat that the rise is due to something called an immunity gap created by the pandemic. "A dramatic reduction in circulation of other viruses and bacteria created a cohort of kids with few immunological defenses against bugs like influenza, RSV, and other cold-causing viruses, setting the stage for large outbreaks when those pathogens returned."

A Lehigh Valley Health Board is in the Works

It was late September when people began to get sick. In days, the disease spread across the state, from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Government collapsed as the illness ripped through firemen, policemen and garbage collectors. There was no room for the bodies.

Public gatherings were banned. Schools, churches and movie theatres were all closed. Mothers watched their children die, before they themselves went gently into that good night.

Sounds like one of those disaster movies, eh? No. It really happened back in 1918. It's remembered as the Great Pandemic. As suddenly as it come, it was gone.

Are we ready for the next one? We better be, because we're overdue.

Northampton County's Interim Health Board, formed in July 2005, is exploring formation of a bi-county health board with LehighLehigh County. Last night, Board chair Dr. David Lyon told Northampton County Council it would be the first bi-county health board in the state. It would be financed by leveraging state grants with private donations from area hospitals.

Margaret Potter, associate dean at Pittsburgh's Center for Public Health Practice, explained how we could all benefit from a regional health bureau. Restaurant inspections, drinking water tests and infectious disease watches, are just a small part of a public health department. They also provide immunizations, STD investigations and nutritional programs. They also take some of the pressure off local hospitals.

What's most amazing about this program, and a surprise to Dean Potter herself, is that we might be able to form a bi-county health department without spending any local money. Ron Angle hounded Potter for specifics, but she's still working out details, and those won't be ready for a few months.

When Angle kept insisting that we would end up paying for this, a board member (his name escapes me) explained that we already pay taxes for a health board. "We're already being taxed. We just want some money back."

Lehigh County recently adopted a resolution creating a Lehigh County or bi-county bealth authority. Last night, Potter explained that the existing health bureaus in Allentown and Bethlehem would be left intact, and the health department would be expanded in small phases around those departments.