Posted on 04/29/2009 10:07:29 PM PDT by penelopesire
MEXICO CITY/GENEVA, April 30 (Reuters) - Mexico's president told citizens to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy, after the World Health Organisation raised its alert level and said a swine flu pandemic was imminent.
In his first televised address since the crisis erupted last week, President Felipe Calderon told Mexicans to stay home with their families. The country will suspend non-essential work and services, including some government ministries, from May 1-5.
"There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus," Calderon said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
What part of this is so hard for all to see!
1. This is the first and only article so far that says this may be not as bad as the normal flu. (Let's not forget the normal flu kills 36,000 a year, so even if this flu is half as bad, it will add another 18,000 deaths.) But maybe they are just now starting to get a handle on the situation, so maybe we will see more of this kind of article.
2. Although the people quoted have lofty-sounding titles, I'm still skeptical of their direct knowledge of this particular flu. The quoted Dr. Olsen works at a Vet Medicine school... he studies swine flu - in SWINE. What does he know about this four-pronged version that is circulating among humans? Does he know enough about this version to draw the conclusion he is drawing? Or is he, like many FReepers, simply blowing it off because there are “only 7 confirmed deaths.” ? I don't know, and the article doesn't answer my question. And I have the same question about the St. Jude doctor... what does he know about THIS virus?
3. If these two quoted doctors DO know as much as they imply that they know about this virus, how did they come to have this knowledge — are they actively involved in the case, or are they getting their info from news articles just like we are? If they are studying THIS virus, why doesn't the article say they are “with CDC and actively participating in the tracking and study of this virus” ? If they had direct knowledge, wouldn't the article say so? Or is the author of the article simply quoting a couple of people who happen to have lofty credentials, and who, like many FReepers, are not buying the whole hype of a possible Pandemic?
So yes, I'm with you -— who to believe? I'm still of the opinion that it's too early to tell what this thing will do. But it's better to be prepared and safe, than to be cavalier and sorry.
I sent it out to some friends last night too. It doesn’t take long for stuff to get out. I am not vouching for it’s authenticity, but it appears legit. I believe the first responders are starting to leak stuff around the country and prepare their own families. You can’t keep this stuff under wraps when people’s lives could be are in danger.
I expect we will know more in the next few days. There is a lag time at the CDC and WHO.
Doctors who have the opposite opinions have lofty sounding titles too and whose jobs may only tangenitally be researching viruses. Do we have the curriculum vitae for all the people who are throwing around the idea that this is 1918 all over again.
But I can say the doctors in this article are far more reliable than a friend of a friend.
Additionally, I have never suggested that people be cavalier or ignore what is going on. People should be listening but not spreading deliberately false or misleading information.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I have read that “this is just like 1918” or “it’s going to come back in the fall”. We don’t know that yet and it can only be labeled “fear mongering”.
ping... (Thanks, Petronski!)
Based on the balance of your post, I recognize you were not intentionally parroting Zero. Regardless, your barn door and horse analogy was the same one he used for his rationale for not closing the border. As I tried to point out, since we have more than one horse at stake it doesn't make sense to pretend that preventing the flow of a greater number of likely carriers from Mexico into our country cannot benefit us in stemming the spread of this virus. Regardless of whether or not the outbreak began in Mexico, that is where most of the cases are and it is where most of the cases currently in the US appear to have originated. You are correct that sanitation is sorely lacking in Mexico. As the disease continues to spread there, and as their universal healthcare system proves terribly inadequate, more and more very ill patients will seek to come to the US for emergency care courtesy of the US Taxpayer. Leaving the border wide open seems an open armed invitation to increase the spread of this flu strain in the US.
That is NOT a news flash!
did you try Lowes or Home Depot. Lowes in my area had some last night.
There was much speculation here on FR and on other forums (blogs) that the virus must be attacking a specific DNA sequence. Otherwise reasonable folks ignored Occams Razor- oftentimes the simplest answer is so obvious yet we choose to ignore it because of our own disposition to such behavior. Specifically when it comes to faith, tradition, ritual, dogma, or creed. Science and reason is clashing with religion here. With predictable results.
FYI ping to post #8
Isn’t that nice and it is only going to get worse.
Perhaps. . .Post 242 has a take on this.
I have 4 friends who laughed at me the other night as they have a cruise booked to Mexico in 2 weeks.
“Ohhh you worry too much...it will be over by then”
My neighbors just returned from Cozumel a few days ago...I told them I will see them in a few weeks after they have been checked out and the incubation period had passed.
I live VERY close to the border which might be another reason for all the shortages on these things here.
I thought they were suspending all cruise stops in Mexico? You are right, I would not go near them until they have been back for at least 2 weeks.
But as I said in private mail to you, my “friend of a friend” is a reliable source; I can't get more specific than that on a public forum.
Also, have you ever been interviewed for a news story? I'm not debating whether these docs who are quoted are reliable sources or not — they MAY be. What I was saying is that we don't know that from the article because it doesn't say these docs are studying THIS virus, only that they work with the USUAL/NORMAL/SEASONAL flu virus, or the one doc who works at a Vet medicine college, who works with the NORMAL and singular Swine Flu. This is a multi-pronged flu virus, and the article doesn't state that these docs have any direct knowledge of this virus. AND, reporters don't always quote accurately, even when they use QUOTE marks. I was just interviewed recently for an article, and the reporter didn't get the details right in the article, and he didn't quote me word-for-word. I KNOW that reporters don't get things accurate, and I'm sure you do too. So you can believe this Vet Medicine expert, and I will believe my friend's source at the CDC. :-)
But you're absolutely right, no one should be spreading misinformation. No one should be in a panic. Even if it was as bad as the worst fear-mongering would lead us to believe, we still shouldn't panic, we should prepare. That's all I'm saying. Better prepared and not needed, than needed and not prepared.
11 states:
States - # of laboratory confirmed cases Deaths
Arizona 1
California 14
Indiana 1
Kansas 2
Massachusetts 2
Michigan 1
Nevada 1
New York 50
Ohio 1
South Carolina 10
Texas 26 - 1 death
TOTAL COUNTS 109 cases 1 death
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
See: World Health Organization
That may indeed be the case. Viruses have even less respect for political borders than people do.
...I’d bet there may be some law on the books down there that might even permit County sheriffs and such to deputize citizens to guard the border...
Law or no law, this is Texas. If we started to see a mass exodus headed our way from Mexico, the good citizens here would almost certainly deputize themselves to protect our state.
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