10/29/2009 7:35:02 AM

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On the off chance that you've been overseas for the past month, consider the following your update on the H1N1 flu:

	Who's in charge? The issue: Confusion and worry about H1N1 influenza are spreading at least as fast as the virus itself What's happening now: Vaccine is trickling out, "hot lines" are overwhelmed and people aren't sure where to turn for good information. Our view: The Minnesota Department of Health and county health departments need to make a point of gathering good data and keeping the public informed as the flu season progresses.

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20,000 people have been hospitalized nationwide with H1N1 flu strain, and more than 1,000 people have died. Of those fatalities, 96 have been children, with 11 dying in the past week.

• President Obama has declared the situation a national emergency, and his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology hypothesizes that if 30 percent of U.S. residents contract H1N1, media centers could be overwhelmed by the nearly 2 million people who would require hospitalization.

• The H1N1 vaccine, meanwhile, is trickling out in fits and starts. People wait in line for hours, only to be told that the supply has run out, and to come back in two or three weeks when the next shipment arrives. Or, if the shot is available, some people are told that their risk factors don't qualify them to receive it. When Park Nicollet Clinic in St. Louis Park announced that it had received a supply of H1N1 vaccine, it received 120,000 calls in four hours and had to shut down its appointment line.

• Worried parents, after a day or two of monitoring their kids' fevers and listening to them cough, call Minnesota's "FluLine" -- only to wait hours to speak with an actual human being, if indeed they ever get through.

• An apparently healthy 54-year-old hospital administrator in Waseca contracts H1N1 and dies, but no one will talk about what other factors may have contributed to his death.

Is it any wonder that people are frightened? They want to protect themselves and their children, but other than the usual advice about handwashing and staying home when they're sick, they really don't know what to do.

The good news is that the Minnesota Department of Health has an outstanding Web site devoted to the flu, including tips on when you should call a doctor, who is most at risk, how long you should stay home from work and a host of other important advice and statistical data.

The bad news is that there's almost too much information on the site, and it doesn't do much to help people get a clear picture of how H1N1 is affecting Rochester, Olmsted County or southeastern Minnesota as a whole.

That's why we'd like Minnesota to identify someone as the point person in the state's battle against H1N1. Weekly press conferences should provide up-to-date information on H1N1 hotspots, statewide hospitalization rates, fatalities, school closures and vaccine availability. County health departments, obviously, would need to compile much of this data for the state.

As it is right now, a good reporter can spend all day in a vain attempt to gather such information.

That's not good, because in a situation like this knowledge is power. There's no fear like the fear of the unknown, and we believe that making good information available to the general public might be the best way to avoid panic.

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