14 DAY TRIAL // Having the number of people seeking medical help double following the lifting of a water ban might sound like an “Alice in Wonderland” sort of scenario but, as it turns out, this is precisely what happened in the state of West Virginia in the United States last week.
Not to beat about the bush, news from this part of the world says that, shortly after people in this part of the world were told that tap water was safe to use, hundreds ended up paying a more or less short visit to local hospitals, and thousands felt the need to call the state's poison control center.
West Virginia's water ban was set in place after a storage tank leaked some 7,500 gallons of a chemical compound typically used to wash coal into Elk River.
The incident occurred earlier this month, on January 9, and the water ban affecting roughly 300,000 of the state's residents was instituted shortly after the leak was discovered.
According to Think Progress, high officials began allowing people in West Virginia to use tap water on January 13. By the end of the week, the water ban was lifted all across the state.
The same source details that, on January 12, health officials issued a statement saying that, since the spill occurred until that date, 10 people had been admitted to hospital, and 169 had received treatment but were allowed to leave the emergency room.
Health officials also said that little over 1,000 individuals had called the poison control center.
What's interesting is that, since January 13 until January 17, the number of people seeking medical help soared. This happened despite the fact that “do not use” orders started being lifted.
Thus, this past Saturday, health officials reported a total of 20 hospital admissions, 411 individuals treated in the emergency room and then given permission to leave, and 2,302 calls to the poison control center, most of which were human-related.
It is important to note that none of the symptoms displayed by these people have until now been officially linked to exposure to contaminated water.
Those who believe that the number of hospital admissions upped because of the chemical spill say that, all things considered, this incident ended up affecting this many people due to conflicting information concerning its impact on local water sources.