Saturday, October 1, 2011

Queens man dies of West Nile Virus

From the Times Ledger:

A 60-year-old man recently died from West Nile virus in Queens, which city tests indicated is home to the most mosquitoes that carry the virus in all of the five boroughs, and the city is currently testing a woman who might be from Middle Village for the virus.

The city Department of Health would not release where and when the man was infected, citing patient confidentiality, but only said he contracted the virus in mid-August and died sometime later.

The DOH said the details of the man’s neighborhood in Queens or where he likely contracted the virus would not be released in the future.

State Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) said the city would not confirm a woman from Middle Village was infected with the virus, but his office was working to confirm the case.

7 comments:

Alfredo said...

So here we have a man that died due to West Nile. We have at least one confirmed infection in Whitestone with other "possible" cases in Queens. We have confirmation that "Queens is home to the the most mosquitoes that carry the Virus." Ok, so what are they going to do about it and when?

Now we have the Health Department saying they "would not release where and when the man was infected, citing patient confidentiality, but only said he contracted the virus in mid-August and died sometime later." SERIOUSLY! so they want us to believe that if they release where in Queens, it would somehow violate the HIPPA law? It is Patient confidentiality, not neighborhood!

While we all should be taking precautions, and our Department of Health should be doing all in their power to eradicate the virus.

(Instead of ignoring standing water in the street and blaming the homeowners if it is not removed. Instead of falsely hiding behind HIPPA laws meant to protect Patients, and not give the agencies a place to hide.)

The Public has a right to know where the most cases of the infected mosquitoes have been found. They need to know where the most infections have occured. We need to know what they are doing, and plan on doing, to resolve this public safety issue.

Stop waiting for winter to come so that the mosquitoes die and or the virus goes dormant!

Stop hiding behind laws meant to protect the citizen, and not the inept Government agencies!

Anonymous said...

Oh Al stop who cares about the public and public health.

Anonymous said...

The Health Department should be giving tickets out to people who allow their yards to get severely overgrown.

They should also be educating the public about the risk of standing water - from their pool covers especially.

The also should be cleaning out our sewers as many are clogged throughout the borough.

Anonymous said...

THEY SHOULD ALSO BE REMOVING LARGE PUDDLES OF WATER IN THE STREET THAT JUST SITS THERE BECAUSE THE DOT SCREWED UP WHEN THEY REPAVED THE STREETS.

THEY SHOULD BE DOING A LOT OF THINGS THEY REFUSE TO DO

Anonymous said...

The government should do alot of things ...but doesnt ...but that should stop people from trying to take care of themselves... I would not wait for the governemnt to step in and give my neighbor a ticket for a swampy pool...i would go to the store and buy a $3.00 can of Raid and $1.00 gallon of bleach and pour it into the pool....we cant live like lambs to slaughter, waiting for the government to take care of every aspect of life....

Frabcis Coppola said...

My mother Maria Coppola Died March 31, 2012 of the WEST NILE due to the Mayor not spraying once last year or if you ask me can't recollect the last time I 've recieved a programemed letter in the mail or telephone call to alert us there spraying contact me at againstwestnile@gmail.com

Unknown said...

There's going to be many more dead this up coming Sept 2012 I bbet you my bottom dollar. we had a mild winter the mosquitoe's are in full force once spray can't kill the legions and legions of flying mostqutoe's they travel on dogs , in cars where ever they can't breathe from the poisious spray they travel to a location where it's safe for them to Breathe. where and when will another Mayor Guglianni be elected to like he had the right intention to spray an entire blanket and give phone calls to each house hold to close your windows a day or two and put your Ac's on and wait until mosquito's are dead and re-zoom back to ordianry life style. what kind of Country are we living in. The Gov is the biggest cover up in USA the biggest liars and crooks!