Well, we can pretty much be assured that the Swine Flu panic will be ramped up now:
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A child in Texas has become the first fatality from swine flu in the United States, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
“I can confirm the very sad news out of Texas that a child has died of the H1N1 virus,” the CDC’s Dr. Richard Besser said.
“As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family.”
He said the child was about 2 years old.
Six of the 64 confirmed swine flu cases in the United States have been reported in Texas, according to the CDC.
Of course one death out of 64 cases isn’t that big a deal when you consider the fact that the “regular” flu kills tens thousands of people each year in the United States alone.
Despite this rather obvious indication that there’s no need to panic yet, there have already been signs that people are starting to overreact. Via Twitter, one rider on D.C.’s Metro reported seeing people wearing surgical masks, for example, and they’ve closed a school in Chicago based on one unconfirmed report of Swine Flu. But that’s amateur hour compared to Mexico, where they’ve closed all schools for at least two weeks, or Egypt, where they’re seriously considering killing every pig in the country.
Meanwhile, we’ve got pork producers in the United States and health officials in Israel demanding that we stop calling it Swine Flu because, well, the word “swine” is damaging to the pork industry and offensive to observant Jews. And there are those who using this relatively minor medical story to advance their insane conspiracy theories, or their plans to increase the size, scope, and power of the state.
Is it possible that this Swine Flu outbreak could become something serious ? Yes, but that sure doesn’t seem likely very now and the story clearly doesn’t deserve the level of panic it’s getting.
Run, RUN, PANIC…oh my GOD…NO)OOOOO…not the swine flu!!! AHHHHHHH…..quick mister goverment man what should I do, Government Man: You should go get your government approved experimental swine flu drug and your goverment approved masks and don’t forget to panic. Yes, Uncle sam I am terrorified…watch me run in terror.
Wait, aren’t the Egyptians Muslim anyway? What are they doing with pigs to being with? :-p
Oddly, my company does a lot of business with Mexico. One of us, just recently returned from there, has been asked to stay home for a while.
Can’t say I’m overly concerned.
Has anyone been tracking the spread of swine flu on this website http://www.swine-flu-tracker.com/? It seems every time I check it the swine flu spreads.
[...] I noted yesterday, the panic over the new strain of Swine Flu is a bit irrational given that the “regular” [...]