Originally posted by Absum!
Look at the CFR Death rate. Peter Osborn H1N1
Please look at the cdc website on swine flu or H1N1. The death rate is very minimal compared to the amount of cases reported. Also for the record here. I work in a hospital in Texas and none of us are "freaking out" about the swine flu. We are on guard and using Universal Precautions which mostly includes good handwashing. As healthcare workers we are on the frontlines of any pandemic and seriously the media has hyped the hell out of this. I have yet to have anyone i know come down with swine flu much less die of it. I think your odds are better to die in a car crash or get hit by a bus. I am not saying people arent getting it and i am not saying people arent dying from it but you need to look at the fact that the CDC reports that almost 36,000 people die yearly from the flu. Thats the regular ol flu not swine flu.
Please refere to this link for those facts.Seasonal Flu
The link for the swine flu updated June 12th is here
H1N1 CDC PAGE.
Now far be it for me to take away anyones right to be scared out of their minds, however it just galls me as a healthcare worker to see people spreading misinformation about such a health issue.
Its this kind of media hype that led me to spend 16 hours on the road driving my family from Pasadena Texas to Austin Texas when Hurrican Rita was heading towards the Gulf coast. Sad thing is they "projected" a possible scenario in order to be proactive and try to save lives instead of sheltering in place as we should have and it ended up costing the city of Houston millions of dollars as well as being just a complete waste of time. I now refuse to let the media "freak me out" when it comes to their projected anything.
WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus.
It needs to be stated here that the spread of this virus was known to cover the world. Did anyone seriously think this or any virus can or will be localized anywhere in a world where global travel occurs everyday on such a massive scale? This was a foregone conclusion. The words pandemic and Phase 6 freaks everyone out because of the connotations to the word pandemic in history. It conjurs up images being thrown up by the media of mass deaths due to past pandemics. Jeesh enough already from the media.
Also in reply to the post regarding the mutation of the sine flu. The swine flu's history is not new. It was the same flu that was responsible for deaths in 1918 and also a variant of it in 1976 and there was a vaccine in 1976 but the vaccine cause complications itself. There have been several mutations on this same H1N1 flu that has lead to deaths but rememeber that it was the mutation of the flu that also stopped it from being lethal. It mutated into a less lethal form of flu but has been around for a very long time. Research!!!
When i SEE people dying i will worry and then maybe not even then unless there is the possibility there is a cure or prevention. If not then its just like any other disease in this world i have a chance of getting. I might or i might not but one thing is for sure, I am going to die eventually and i will die of something. God only knows what of.
