Friday, May 01, 2009
Killer Flu Pandemic
Did you know that in any given year on average 36,000 people worldwide die from the flu? That's ANY flu. Why did they get so excited about this one? Slow news time? No terror threat to hang over our head? And why are so many people in a panic? I went to the pharmacy for my Rx yesterday and guess what? There is NO hand sanitizer to be had anywhere. The shelves are totally devoid of even the house brands.
Why?
Panic that's why.
The news media has hyped this H1N1 virus so much that people are absolutely sure that they will be getting the flu and die.
Well, a young 17 year old girl from Hallendale High School in Broward County has tested positive for it. The girl recently visited Mexico and has a very mild case, according to the Jo DiMagio Children's Hospital doctor's who treated her. The girl has not been in school since 4/24/09.
So as a precaution the Broward School District is closing the school for 3 days and sending in a cleaning crew to disinfect it. They also contacted everyone who was in contact with the girl and those people are being tested for the virus. So I think we have a handle on it, dont' you?
The places that really could be devisteated by this virus, even in the mild form, are places like Haiti.
In America we have resources and even our poor have better access to health care than most of the population of Haiti. We also have a vast communication network that can tell us all how to contain the spread of this illness. Those two things are mostly unavailable in Haiti, which dooms the population to this easily transmitted flu.
Should we panic?
No. Should we worry about others?
If we have any grain of humanity we should.
Will we?
I don't know.
Does a massive humanitarian effort to stop the spread of disease get the media as many rating points as spreading panic in our own country?
Why?
Panic that's why.
The news media has hyped this H1N1 virus so much that people are absolutely sure that they will be getting the flu and die.
Well, a young 17 year old girl from Hallendale High School in Broward County has tested positive for it. The girl recently visited Mexico and has a very mild case, according to the Jo DiMagio Children's Hospital doctor's who treated her. The girl has not been in school since 4/24/09.
So as a precaution the Broward School District is closing the school for 3 days and sending in a cleaning crew to disinfect it. They also contacted everyone who was in contact with the girl and those people are being tested for the virus. So I think we have a handle on it, dont' you?
The places that really could be devisteated by this virus, even in the mild form, are places like Haiti.
In America we have resources and even our poor have better access to health care than most of the population of Haiti. We also have a vast communication network that can tell us all how to contain the spread of this illness. Those two things are mostly unavailable in Haiti, which dooms the population to this easily transmitted flu.
Should we panic?
No. Should we worry about others?
If we have any grain of humanity we should.
Will we?
I don't know.
Does a massive humanitarian effort to stop the spread of disease get the media as many rating points as spreading panic in our own country?
