I don't mean to make light of a disease which is at present infecting thousands of people around the world, but I want to say one thing about the panic surrounding Swine Flu, which I'm guessing few people under the age of 40 never knew about before last week:
CALM DOWN! Seriously, people, we're in the richest country on Earth, with the finest medical personnel and the most resources. You are not going to die from the Swine Flu. Of all the people who have come down with the illness in this country, precisely none have died. Only one person has had to spend the night at the hospital. Everyone is getting better, and largely on their own. Common and mass-produced drugs are known to be an effective treatment.
In 1976 there was a scare over Swine Flu, and exactly one American died from the effects of the illness. Over 30 died by taking a vaccination shot intended to combat that strain.
So, calm down, wash your hands often and cover your mouth when you cough, if you're really worried. But unless you're a student at St. Francis Prep in Queens, I really wouldn't start wearing a mask around town.
It annoys me that the news media just has to hear the word "Flu" and all of a sudden we've got a pandemic on our hands to rival the 1918 Influenza crisis which killed more people than World War I. It's just not true, people.
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I agree. We should be more concerned with renaming the flu, because it's offensive to Jewish and Muslims. Imagine that! The animal that they forbid to eat because they consider it to be impure has a disease named after it! What a travesty. Let's name it after the Mexicans instead.
ReplyDeleteGood idea. We'll call it, "Jose's Revenge."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.addictinggames.com/pandemic2.html
ReplyDeleteWhew! Your blog post sure eased my fears. Good thing I'm in a country with such fine medical person... oh. Oh shit.
ReplyDeletePS: I stalked you to your blog because today my playlist brought up MC Lars' "True Player for Real" and the Feist/Ben Gibbard Duet "Train Song." For some truly unknown reason it made me think of you.