Flu Season in Washington

That's right, it's flu season in Washington.  I guess the project that I got this picture from attempts to track flu outbreaks via the search terms people use.  Using this data, Google.org is capable of tracking flu trends for regions of the globe, and they are able to determine when the flu virus is active in any given area.

The site also gives people a link to a map of local places to get the flu shot based on your Zip code. I do have to admit it didn't take this chart for me to realize that people were getting sick.

For those of you Michiganders... I also have this chart that clearly shows you are at a low risk of getting the flu.  Which means Michigan is at a much lower risk of the flu right now than most of the US.

As you can see in the next picture we have a map of the US.  The key from the charts that I have up above here apply to the map below.

This map tells me that the Pacific North West has a high risk for flu right now, and the chart above contains historical data that goes back to 2003.  Suggesting that the normal pattern for this area is for an increase in flu activity to occur around this time of year.

In Michigan, I can tell that the risk for flu is going down, and this season wasn't a very active flu season. 

So, there is a flu update.  For more information, where this information came from, and even the raw data used to create these pictures... visit google.org/flutrends.

So, that's itfor now.  Soon I should have the state of the Frizzlefry Blog address.  I made my chart this past weekend, but I still need to post it with the summary of the data and stuff.

Later,
     SteveO