May 01 2009
Stop The Swine Flu Panic Pandemic! – Updated
Major Update: Folks, calm down, take off those silly masks and return to the normal routine of your lives. It is becoming clear with each passing day this swine flu outbreak was nothing more than a hysterical media crying ‘wolf!’ to shore up their sagging ratings (the result of the fact they put out a crappy product). Here’s the latest:
The swine flu outbreak that has alarmed the world for a week now appears less ominous, with the virus showing little staying power in the hardest-hit cities and scientists suggesting it lacks the genetic fortitude of past killer bugs.
President Barack Obama even voiced hope Friday that it may turn out to be no more harmful than the average seasonal flu.
In New York City, which has the most confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. with 49, swine flu has not spread far beyond cases linked to one Catholic school. In Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught it.
A flu expert said he sees no reason to believe the virus is particularly lethal. And a federal scientist said the germ’s genetic makeup lacks some traits seen in the deadly 1918 flu pandemic strain and the more recent killer bird flu.
Can things get worse? Yes, it is possible but becoming more and more unlikely. What you should be angry and concerned about is a media that feels like it can scream ‘fire!’ in our society and not be held accountable for the damage done.
And we should also be assessing why the government lackeys were cowered into ratcheting up the pandemic levels under this media pressure. Why when the media screams do our leaders go into full CYA mode? – end update
Joe Biden wandered into the pandemic panic attacks this week and showed off is ignorance on all things biological and medical:
Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not recommend taking any commercial flight or riding in a subway car “at this point†because swine flu virus can spread “in confined places.†A little more than one hour later, Biden rushed out a statement backing off.
The media armchair experts are playing this flu story for all its worth, and causing a panic pandemic where no real flu pandemic exists (yet). For example, this morning I was listening to a conservative AM radio host (Andy Parks) talk about how water in Mexico must be making their situation worse. The display of naiveté by this comment stunning. His cohost Fed Grandy nailed the more likely cause, less robust immune systems in the Mexican population. Probably due to their state managed health care.
But the fact is this flu outbreak has not distinguished itself as a killer outside of Mexico – so far:
As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.
In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.
The reason I must keep caveating the risk is because flu viruses transform themselves as they spread. This one seems to be losing potency as it has spread, but it is a complete crap shoot which way it will evolve in the end. But so far, by most measures, this has not been proven to be a danger to the world.
In light of the facts at hand, and because no one can predict how this pathogen will morph over time, responsible people should be stopping the panic and not stoking it. But acting informed, knowledgeable and responsible is not a characteristic of the drive by media.
Yeah, my wife seems a bit freaked by it and when I tried to calm her she brought up the 1918 pandemic. After I told her that living conditions in 1918 were a bit different than today she seemed to take stock a bit. The media is just stupid. Sorry to anyone in the media here. That’s a “collective” stupid, not an individual. The media is totally driven by ratings and money etc. So they flock to anything that freaks people out.
By the way, Souter retiring is the first big test for the “conservatives” who voted 3rd party. We’ll see if judges don’t matter.
Also, wash your hands and cough into your arm, not into your hand.
Thank you AJ! All I hear is Swine Flu this, Swine Flu that, and suddenly my friends who tell me they’re sick are worried it’s this new virus. It’s too early for anyone to be acting like it’s the end of the world. The seasonal flu claims roughly 3,500 victims a year, but everyone is freaked out by this?! Medical experts have a right to worry, because this is a new virus that just appeared recently. But for the media to spin this out of control is driven by the need for ratings.
At the same time, no one should ignore this new breed of influenza… we don’t know how it will end up. But it’s too soon to treat it like the next plague or 1918 influenza.
Just like in 1999. The media kept on talking about Y2K, and how everything would go haywire, but when 2000 came, nothing happened.
marksbber,
It’s even worse than you think. Annual death toll in America is 36,000 from the normal flue!
“…why the government lackeys were cowered into ratcheting up the pandemic levels under this media pressure.”? Corruption, imho.
Welcome to the United States of Chicago.
We have a pandemic every year that kills up 500,000 people around the globe in a “normal” year. But there still is some cause for concern but not for the virus in its current form. The worry is that this new virus will circulate in the Southern Hemisphere during the Northern Hemisphere summer, combine with seasonal H1N1, and come roaring back in the fall. This is pretty much wat the 1918 virus did. When it first appeared at the end of the 1917-1918 flu season, it was a mild strain that wasn’t particularly harmful. Over that summer it mutated and the following fall is when it got particularly nasty.
One reason older people are not dying in high numbers from this are two-fold. There was a 1957 H1N1 strain very similar to this one that probably gives considerable cross-immunity to people who contracted that flu and the same for people who received the 1976 “swine flu” shot (mostly military, hospital, and other emergency workers). So there is some “herd immunity” at least here in the US that would cause this flu to be less virulent.
So if we live past the flu and every other immediate crisis, could we please find the proof of who was on that plane? After all, the MSM thought Palin’s trash was important enough to sift.
This MSM is not Clinton’s MSM.
FYI from gatewaypundit.blogspot.com:
” The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 33% of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-two percent (32%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of +1.
Obama’s numbers may be just average– But the propaganda from the media is above average. ”
As Jim would say, “Ruh Roh”!