Swine Flu hysteria hits major news media. Learn about the facts here, links to real data, and a real-time map tracking known cases across the nation.

GlenEllynLife.com

But it's soooo cute!!!

LUV IT! How did you find that photo of me on my g-pa's farm?

This is the most ridiculous news story in a cycle of ridiculous news stories. This is such a non-event. I do not understand why it's gotten the coverage it has, or why people are reacting so over-the-top. It's the flu. Get over it. It's not like we don't have a million other things to worry about right now. Sorry - I don't need a map or a bunch of links. It's a freakin' virus, not Armageddon.

I smell a conspiracy; either the medical mask people or the pharmaceutical companies are behind it!

Why do these type A people still come to work when their sick?

64 sick + prudent planning = $1.5B

I do not understand this hysteria either. I guess it is only $1.5 billion. It's just a little more debt - hardly worth worrying about these days.

Biden does it again :

"At 7:05 a.m. Thursday, Biden was asked on NBC's "Today" show what advice he would give to a family member who was considering flying to Mexico.

"I would tell members of my family — and I have — I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said. "It's not that it's going to Mexico. It's you're in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft." Biden went on to say he wouldn't suggest that they ride the subway either."

"At 8:47 a.m., Biden's office put out a statement gamely trying to rewrite the vice president's words:

"The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: That they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico," said Biden spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander. "If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways." "


How many subways go to Mexico? Did they install rail service in the drug tunnels under the border between the US and Mexico?

He wasn't talking just about travel to Mexico; I gathered that he meant all travel, domestic or not. In other words - here ya go, travel industry that's already struggling! Another kick in the pants!

I like Biden, but yes, this was a stupid thing to say.

On Tuesday I am going to defiantly go to Santa Fe sans mask, and hoist a few Coronas in celebration. Because if we all can't get plastered on Cinco de Mayo, then the terrorists win!

Look at the bright side he's not in charge.

I'm beginning to miss Cheney though.

True. Biden's foot-in-mouth disease is much less preferable than senseless war, the deaths of thousands of innocent people, the trashing of our civil liberties and... shooting people in the face.

Just be prepared to have your kids at home from school. Many schools in St Charles closed midday on Thursday. The DuPage Regional Office of Ed is supposed to be having a meeting with the supers to talk about the situation today. Because many schools share buses, that is a big catalyst in snowballing of the number of schools being closed.

This just in: the flu formerly known as the "swine flu" now prefers to be referred to as "influenza A/H1N1." Which is an incredibly boring name. So "Swine flu" it is then.

Glellyn,

You are reading from the Walt Zlotow playbook again...

Medical professionals - particularly those in the ER - know it is just a matter of time until a flu pandemic does break out. So, stockpiling anti-virals and developing a plan to respond to such an event is probably a good idea. Mind you, the medical professional in my home does not believe this one is THE one. But he does believe that we really need to ramp up our efforts to educate people about the clear symptoms that should take you to the ER as well as good prevention measures.

Fine - let the medical professionals and government agencies prepare. But closing an entire school because one kid has the flu - when so many kids get the flu every single year and, yes, some kids die from it - is more than ridiculous. Seriously - it's like we're all looking for yet another reason to panic. Or the 24 hour news cycle is short on stories. But this is an extreme overreaction, and I'm not sure who to blame.

And if we're all running to the ER at the first sniffle, isn't that just making any virus outbreak worse and also straining our health care system?

This whole thing just makes me mad, for some reason. I don't "get" people these days at all.

I must confess - I was feeling tempted to keep one home today, as the AP testing schedule begins on Monday. Had there been an actual case of swine flu at West, and my student hadn't already been, um, "sick" on Monday, I would have most likely kept them home.

As for educating people about issues like protecting their own health - People would rather react to sensational reports and graphics than make an effort to glean the truth from accurate sources of medical information (i.e. NOT Paris Hilton or Joe Biden).

my kid had the type "b" flu in march...was given tamiflu (at SIXTY DOLLARS FOR 5 DAYS!!!) and missed 4 days of school. no one else got it. flu is flu. be careful if it is getting WAY worse. i read today that in mexico they are big on "self-doctoring" and i believe that alot of meds are OTC vs. here (like antibiotics.) chances are so many died because they went to a dr. too late.
enough already.

Since many of the comments here seem very sensible, here's the link I had with the article that covers much of the same ground. Plus, didn't you want to know where the pig photo came from?

mercola.com

quote:

Just What is a Pandemic Anyway?

A pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world.

By definition, a "pandemic" is an epidemic that is geographically widespread. Fear-mongers are always careful to add the innuendo that millions of people could and probably will die, as in the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 that killed about 20 million people worldwide.

How does the death of even a few hundred equate to 20 million?

I read that the 'flu' kills 36,000 people yearly. (sorry I don't have the link---if someone wants to challenge it, I will try to find it.) That is 3000 a month or 10 a day roughly. Based on what I read about the H1N1 or 'swine' or whatever, it hasn't killed even close to this average. Slow news days or fear it could ramp up, someone knows more and is not telling or what...

Here's the link on US flu deaths:
USA Flu Deaths