H1N1 flu could fill hospital beds

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Fifteen U.S. states could run out of hospital beds at the peak of the H1N1 virus outbreak if 35 percent of the population gets the flu, a non-profit says.

A report by Trust for America's Health, a non-profit organization working to make disease prevention a national priority, also said 12 additional states could reach or exceed 75 percent of their hospital bed capacity. The group based its projections on estimates from the FluSurge model developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of people hospitalized could range from a high of 168,025 in California to a low of 2,485 in Wyoming, and many states may face shortages of beds or may need to reduce the number of non-flu related discretionary hospitalizations due to limited hospital bed availability, the report said.

The number of people who get sick from the swine flu could range from a high of 12.9 million in California to a low of 186,434 in Wyoming if 35 percent of Americans get H1N1 flu, the report said.

"The country's much more prepared than we were a few short years ago for a pandemic, but there are some long-term underlying problems which complicate response efforts, like surge capacity and the need to modernize core public health areas like communications and surveillance capabilities," Jeff Levi, executive director of TFAH, said.