#CPACPlague

The trending Tea Party hashtag today is #CPACPlague as many attendees report coming down with a bad flu after this weekend's convention. At Twitchy, the most popular comment is this: "It was first time most of them were in same room as liberal media reporters covering the event. Immune system needs to build up liberal media anti-virus."  Flu outbreaks at large winter conventions are not uncommon. I recall reading similar complaints after a recent Comic-Con.

Flu Tracker App Launched

The New York Post reports:

Hell’s Kitchen is burning up — with the flu. The neighborhood is the city’s most infected area — closely followed by the Upper West Side, Carroll Gardens and Elmhurst, Queens, according to a formula created by two upstate professors. The complex, Twitter-based algorithm maps out areas of New York City that are hardest-hit with virus — and then color-codes the outbreaks in green, yellow and red. The Germ Tracker Web app pinpoints key words on the social-networking site — like “headache” and “sick” — to flag high-risk areas in the city. The data are available on smartphones and computers. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, Hell’s Kitchen, the Upper West Side and East Harlem experienced the most “flu-like” symptoms in Manhattan. Other “high-risk” neighborhoods included Elmhurst, Carroll Gardens and the East Village.

Boston Mayor Declares Flu Emergency

As hundreds of flu patients flood into the city's emergency rooms, today Boston Mayor Tom Menino declared a public health emergency.

The nation's severe flu season continued to worsen Wednesday, with reports of hospitals overflowing with sick patients and at least one major U.S. city declaring an influenza emergency and urging citizens to get vaccinated before the peak is reached. In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino declared a public health emergency because of a sharp rise in cases. That city has seen about 700 confirmed cases of influenza since the season began in October, a 10-fold jump over cases reported for all of last year, said Nick Martin, a spokesman for the Boston Public Health Commission.

RELATED: Half of the hospitals in Milwaukee have diverted ambulances away from their emergency rooms due to the burden of flu patients.