Writer's Block: Swine Times

[crysthewolf]

[Error: unknown template qotd]In this internet age, you would think that when people heard about things like this they would take a half second to do some research on the subject, find out if it really DESERVES to be freaked out about.

The swine flu DOESN'T.

Granted, if I lived in mexico, I would be more concerned.  And perhaps it will get worse.  But as it stands, there have been NO fatailities from this strain of flu outside of Mexico.  It's not been found in any pigs outside of Mexico.  There haven't even been any secondary cases (a person who has not been to Mexico coming down with the flu having contracted it from someone who HAS been to Mexico) in the US as far as I've seen (that might have changed, the last time I heard anything was this morning).

People freak out over shit like this all the time, because when some idiot tells them that the world is ending, they buy into it.  Our gullibility may be an evolutionary failsafe against some of the nasty things that could take us out (despite being at the top of the food chain), but sometimes, it's fucking ridiculous.  Wake up.  There are things to worry about that are worth your energy.  This isn't one.

And now back to your regularly scheduled whining and complaining.

--Crystal

Comments

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

And there, I was just starting to worry b/c a friend of mine said there was already at least one case in Chicago. But if it was a person returning from Mexico, then we don't have transmission yet.

This does strike me as worth taking precautions on a community level, though. It sounds like it's much more than the bird flu that wasn't. The danger isn't so much that there will be deaths than that it will be so contagious that large parts of a community will be incapacitated at the same time. Still, it really doesn't sound like it's transmitting like that.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

True, and a good point. But I do think that people are definitely taking precautions. And I think a lot of the people who are a'skeered are freaked out because of the deaths in Mexico. And those are horrible, don't get me wrong. But there's also the sheer amount of people who die from regular strains of the flu every year... it's more than the bird flu that wasn't, but it's not the apocalypse that everyone's worried about.

[echoweaver.livejournal.com]

I agree. The freakout has been EPIC.

[defixione.livejournal.com]

Didn't a kid die of it in Texas?

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that. Did it happen today?

[studentbane.livejournal.com]

I don't know about a kid, but the CDC's figures say 1 death in Texas, 109 confirmed cases in the US:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

Also, the WHO has kicked up their pandemic alert level to 5 (out of 6). So very serious people are taking this very seriously. There have been verified cases in 14 countries other than the US and Mexico:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_outbreak

Also, according to CDC and WHO sources, it does spread human-to-human:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/swineflu_you.htm
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/faq/en/index.html#what

And the CDC is recommending face masks and so on in certain situations:

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/masks.htm

All of that said... No, I'm not worried. The CDC also says that most people recover with no problem and no particular treatment. Yes, the flu has, in the past, killed millions of people. Yes, it can be a nasty, nasty disease. No, we're not nearly up to panic time yet. No, most of us reading this are not in the high risk groups. Yes, good people are on it and seem to be doing the right things. Yes, the media are, as always, assholes who play on people's fears.

[crysthewolf.livejournal.com]

Yes. lol And I understand some concern, definitely, it's just the all out "OMGAPOCALYPSEWE'REGONNADIE!" media frenzy that's getting on my nerves, 'cause there are people who are good people and who aren't stupid, but who are being freaked out by it.

[studentbane.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, the news freaking out is, sad to say, no news at all. Freak-out sells. It will get better when the bulk of humans CALM THE FUCK DOWN and stop buying scare-tactic headlines. Oh, wait, that will happen only after the apocalypse...