When in danger or in doubt, run around, scream and shout

[MadHound]

That's what's happening with swine flu, lots of screaming and shouting, but over what? Twenty non-lethal cases in the US. That's fewer cases in a week than regular seasonal flu has in a day. But there's a thousand cases in Mexico! Fewer cases in a month than seasonal flu has in a week here in the US. And if you're getting freaked out about the death toll, well regular season flu kills 36,000 people annually here in the US.

So why the sudden freak out? It's not like this is the Black Death, where mortality rates were in the eighty to ninety percent range. But now, just when issues like justice for torture victims comes to the forefront and captures the country's attention, we get this flu scare wiping torture off the headlines and into that memory hole.

Call me cynical, call me cold, but I have a hard time believing that this panic is warranted. Yes, it's a shame that people in Mexico died. But I find it odd that this problem has been raging for a month down there all the sudden gets front page play, with twenty US cases thrown in for the extra booga-booga factor.

But hey, it makes a great rug for a lot of dirt to be swept under.

[ohheckyeah]

1. But

1918. ;-)

[MadHound]

2. Give me some 1918 numbers, then I'll be worried

Until then, not so much.

[MercutioATC]

10. 30% of the world contracted it. 2.5%+ mortality rate. 500k dead in U.S. 20M+ dead worldwide.

Started in March 1918 and continued in three waves for over a year...each wave claiming more lives than the last.

Highest fatality rates were among young healthy adults.


It's estimated that a similar pandemic today would reduce world GDP by approximately 5%.


There's a few numbers to get you started.

[MadHound]

14. So those are the target numbers

When we start approaching those, even 1% of those numbers, then I'll start getting worried. Right now we have somewhere between 1000-1500 cases and less than 100 dead.

Let me know when we get to even 500,000 cases, and say 1000 dead, worldwide. Then I'll start worrying.

Until then, I still think that this is mindless, baseless panic.

Hell, we haven't even reached the numbers of dead for seasonal flu in the US, much less the 1918 strain.

[MercutioATC]

16. You're right, panic is mindless.

There's a lot of middle ground between panic and a complete lack of concern, however.

I'm staying informed and prepared. I'm not panicking.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. I agree ........

Those "Red Alerts, get out your duct tape and bottled water" alarms don't seem to work. A "pandemic" - yeah, a case here, a few cases there, that's a real pandemic, isn't it? :sarcasm: - is just what's called for now, and I also have no doubt that the virus has been carefully released in the most specifically selected sites.

This is what eight years of those feckless thugs have done to me. I do not trust my country.......................

[KittyWampus]

8. soon we'll be told to report suspicious coughers to teh authorities....

[Avalux]

4. How about if I call you uninformed?

If you had a clue about the facts, maybe you'd understand this virus outbreak is a legitimate news story and not a fabrication to cover up the torture issue. Learn the facts before you ridicule people. If you want to have a serious discussion let me know.

BTW - the bubonic plague had a 35-70% mortality rate. 1918 flu pandemic mortality rate was 2.5%.

[MadHound]

7. You can call me that, doesn't mean that you're accurate with that claim

Since I've been keeping up on this one for awhile now.

You can also call me experienced, having lived through many pandemic scares before.

Will this finally turn out to be the "big one"? Doubtful, but whether it does or doesn't, it certainly doesn't warrant the kind of hyper hysteria that we're seeing displayed around here and around the country. Again, zero deaths in this country. Twenty cases in this country. There are more cases of Ehrlichiosis in this country, and more deaths due to it. Yet despite the increase in cases, as the disease moves further and further north, we don't hear any sort of outcry. But a Mexican Swine Flu virus, run around, scream and shout!

Perspective, it's a good thing.

[jody]

5. Almost correct "When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout."

ON EDIT ADD
And don't forget PRIDE for "Plunge Right In, Disrupt Everything".

[MadHound]

9. My bad,

And I've never heard of PRIDE, have to remember that one too, it's fitting.

[BlooInBloo]

6. We're doomed.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Wait ...............

Next we'll start hearing stores about fathers with the virus holding down their kids and wives and coughing on them for hours, wiping them out.

And then the fathers will die ...............

[hedgehog]

12. And all you Californians, what's a few tremors here and there?

You'd think a big earthquake might happen some day or something.

[Rockholm]

13. Isn't that the "Hokey Pokey?"

[XOKCowboy]

15. TANSTAAFL

Something tells me the OP will understand the acronym.

As for your post I was thinking how this became a panic in such little time. Panic is what our MSM does best.