Replies

In your final paragraph you get to the meat of the problem. There’s no evidence at all that this flu is a cytokine storm producer, yet people are waving 1918 around like it’s an established fact. And you admit that modern medicine would dramatically reduce the deaths from the 1918 flu, which there’s no evidence this flu is anywhere near that bad.

You've hit the nail on the head. The doomers always like to use the the Spanish Flu as the mark, whether it be bird flu or now the swine flu. The most devastating influenza virus on record and that is the comparator that is always brought up by this crowd...

"In your final paragraph you get to the meat of the problem. There’s no evidence at all that this flu is a cytokine storm producer, yet people are waving 1918 around like it’s an established fact. And you admit that modern medicine would dramatically reduce the deaths from the 1918 flu, which there’s no evidence this flu is anywhere near that bad."

You prepare based on the possible. Boy Scout motto isn't "only be prepared if more than 35,000 people die. . ."

We don't live in a society that tolerates death well. Look at Iraq. 4,000 deaths had the left in a perpetual snit for 6 yrs. I'm not belittling those patriots, but 4,000 deaths in a 6 yr armed conflict is an astounding testimony to the advances of our military. That same conflict in 1918 would have taken tens or hundreds of thousands of lives.

Fast forward to YOUR argument. Suppose we are able to mitigate a full-blown cytokine storm flu by half because of modern medicine. Do you really, truly think that 250,000 American deaths instead of the 500,000 that happened in 1918 would be celebrated as a key advance in medicine?

And. You are wrong. There IS some anecdotal evidence that this is a cytokine storm producer based on the age range of the deaths and the causes: purulent pneumonia.

I'm not hysterical. I plan on going to work tonight. I don't intend to panic. However. I won't be sticking my head in the sand, either.

This flu requires some vigilance until we have more experience with it.