If you haven't heard about the swine flu errr H1N1 flu, I would guess you've been living under a rock somewhere ....hopefully not in Mexico! There has been a lot made about this version of influenza....mainly because it is showing mutations that we haven't seen before. So is this the "big one"? Or is the media making this into something it isn't? Whole school districts are closing and hold the phone....sports in Texas are being postponed. That is unheard of. I am all for information sharing as we all know. I am just for accurate information being shared. In this day and age of instant news, it would be nice if some of the more reputable news sources did a little more fact checking before they put things out there. Thousands of people die yearly from the flu and we don't hear about them and track the number of cases by state/country. Why don't we hear about those deaths? Now on top of alerting us about the cases of H1N1...the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a release that we can't call it swine flu any longer because poor innocent pigs are being slaughtered even though there is no proof that there is transmission from swine to humans....we are the only "pigs" infecting ourselves. It isn't that hard to cover your cough...it isn't that hard to wash your hands....just practice good infection control.
What do the rest of you think? Is this an overreaction by the media or the public health officias?
Covering my cough....
Pandora
2 comments:
You already know what I think, it is a major over reaction. The media is so desperate for sensational news when nothing sensational seems to be happening that they take something that should be buried in the 5th or 6th story and make it "the news." It is insane, I have students who want to start wearing mask to school and others have sucked the purrell on my desk dry (go thing I buy the refill by the gallon). I am all for them using it but seriously, every 2 minutes (not an exaggeration). The media started this fear that is headed toward full blown panic. This reaction is why governments debate releasing information.
I agree. I think at first, it probably was a good story, but it has raged all out of control. People I know in my community who, every year, wage a battle against allergies, are discovering that this year, their family is concerned and in one case, even demanding, that they get checked. And I just cant keep hand sanitizer in stock. I have even been asked if we are going to carry masks. When loooking at the mexican deeaths, we also need to look at what else is going on there. What is the general health of the population, public sanitation, etc. I think that you will find connections there.
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