You know, I like a good scare story as much as the next guy, but the headlines in the news today are unconscionable:
“US deaths likely from swine flu”
“CDC predicts US fatalities”
“Swine flu claims first US victim”
People: turn off your cable TV, please. Each year, an average of 36,000 Americans die from influenza. For more than a dozen weeks in the winter of 2007-8 the rate of influenza infection was at epidemic proportions. And yet we don’t see these banner headlines each Autumn.
Let’s get a sense of perspective here. Yes, the CDC is being cautious. That’s their job. Dr. Richard Besser, acting head of the CDC, pointed out in an interview on the Today show that he does not believe the flu has become more dangerous and that even with the seasonal flu, there are some people who are more susceptible to it. But that note of caution, reason and common sense got drowned out by the drumbeats of sensationalism.
christao408 
It’s a good thing I’ve thrown out all the pork from my fridge and freezer. There goes the bacon, ham and some frozen ground pork. I’ve also gone into hiding so that no one will sneeze on me.
The only different is regular flu effects the very old and very young. This one kills people from teens to 40. I bought a face mask, lol. I am chicken, not swine, hehe.
Sometimes this scare just comes from some business-minded people. The mask, vaccine, etc. Hopefully it is really not that worse.
hoorah! and ditto and hear hear!
@ElusiveWords – When of course you can’t catch it from eating pork. But while we’re at it, let’s destroy the pork industry just like SARS affected the chicken industry.
@stevew918 – regular flu can also kill people of any age, especially those with compromised immune systems or who do not seek medical care in a timely manner.
@Norcani – You just KNOW the beef industry is behind this. “Pork, the other white meat!? Ha! We’ll show them!”
It’s just amazing how some countries like China are banning pork imports and Egypt ordered to destroy pigs.Seriously people… It’s human-to-human transmission and the virus will NOT live on most surfaces for longer than several minutes…And lastly, eating pork will not give you swine flu.**sigh**
some schools are closed in bay area
There are swine flu cases now in several counties in Northern California. Glad it is the mild kind at this time.
Pork is red meat!
I totally agree with your post Chris!
@yang1815 – It is events like this that cause me to realize that, no, people are REALLY this dumb.
@christao408 – LOL! I concur!
Another good article on how many people die from regular flu each year: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/regular.flu/index.html
ah yes, I hear you on this one … I’ve been up to my eyeballs on precautions and implementation protocols in the centres I manage. And this is from someone who worked for Red Cross in Toronto during the height of the SARS situation
I am going through the same phase of ignore the tube, like i did during the israel palestinian war. the less you watch, the better you feel.
@ZSA_MD – @AppsScraps – @TheCheshireGrins – @Dezinerdreams – – The straw that nearly broke my back was a late night call with my manager and a VP, insisting that we rush to create emergency training for our employees. Finally, I calmed down once the VP said, “I know this is an over-reaction, but we’re getting questions from our customers and employees, so I think we need to get in front of this and provide information to them.” Once she said that, I realized that the intent was good and so took a few deep breaths, and then made sure to include statistics about annual influenza deaths to help add some context to the current event.I’m better now… much calmer… =)
@ElusiveWords – You’re funny. 🙂
Absolutely.
Yeah it’s pretty ridiculous. Wash your hands, be hygienic, and stop thinking it’s the end of the world.