NYC Swine Flu Deaths Triple In A Week

If I remember correctly, just a week ago the NYC Dep't Of Health had noted that the 'swine flu in NYC was in decline'. At that point, the number of NYC fatalities related to the epidemic was 8. One week later, the number has tripled to 24 (assuming that you count the NYC woman who flew to Vegas and was hospitalized and died shortly after her arrival). While our local government has been about as forthcoming as Iranian State Television, the numbers seem to be telling a stark story. While the health department no longer sees fit to update on a daily basis, in the span of 4 days between updates, total hospitalizations from the flu grew by 25% and deaths by 50%. Let's just hope that this trend does indeed fizzle like our city government has already pretended that it has.

In the meantime, it sure would be nice to have some clue as to what really killed these people- which "underlying condition" is the kiss of death? What is actual cause of death, etc? And, while this toll is escalating, more frequent and thorough updates would be appreciated.