Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Can we please calm down?

The media aren't helping things, of course, but I think everyone is getting a little too excited about this swine flu outbreak. Yes, sure, it could be a problem, but it doesn't seem all that deadly. Besides, everyone is worried about this strain of swine flu that has killed only one person within US borders, while no one bats an eye at the usual seasonal flu outbreaks every year.

Yes, this swine flu strain may wind up killing a bunch of people (and has already killed some poor folks in Mexico), but really! One person here. A hundred or so in Mexico. And our normal, seasonal influenza? Well, that kills around 40,000 people in the US alone every single year. 40,000! So let's keep some perspective. If it gets bad, we have treatments that weren't even imagined 90+ years ago during the Spanish flu pandemic. In the meantime, a bunch of people here in New York had or have this swine flu, and no one here has died. So it may not get too bad at all. I hope it won't. Yes, it's a worry, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it just yet!

One last note to the government of Egypt: you're all morons! Slaughtering every pig in the country won't make any difference! I know you have doctors over there. Have none of you listened to any of them? I'm sensitive to pigs being killed, ever since I learned that they're smart like dogs (that's why I don't order or buy pork--because an animal that smart will be in terror and can't be "humanely" killed), but this doesn't even rise to that level of thought. This isn't about whether we should kill pigs. After all, those pigs were, no doubt, headed for Egyptian dinner tables eventually. No, this is just about panicking and doing stupid things. Your pigs aren't going to give you this flu! No matter how/where it started, the pandemic fear has to do with people passing it to each other! Morons.

1 comment:

A DC said...

Exactly!