Sorry to disagree so stridently, but this was the textbook case for how not to handle such a situation.
If you think this was reasoned, you really need to study up on what has been happening at emergency rooms across the nation. They have been filled with panicked people demanding the Swine flu vaccine for their children or other family members.
The media went postal with each new happy proclamation of death. It was surreal.
The only good that will come of this meltdown, would be the committed effort to never handle a spread of disease in this manner again.
I agree. How do you think they should handle it next time?
This thing is far from over. Just yesterday we learned that a Canadian gave it to his pigs.
What’s likely to happen is that this shifts to the southern hemisphere during our summer and comes back next fall even more suitable for human to human transmission.
That exactly how it worked with the Spanish Flu and there’s no difference that I can think of. The Spanish Flu was actually a swine flu, as well.
It’s fine to notice that hundreds are not dying every day in this country at the moment, but it would be foolish to declare the threat as some sort of media concoction.
I work out of an ER for a major city. I can tell you that there are some people seeking tests for the swine flu, but the ER is certainly not filled with panicked people.
The key for any potential pandemic is to create an awareness of the virus, and to give people a list of precautions. Some people are going to overreact. It is human nature, and expected in these cases. However, keeping the public informed is extremely important. It allows the public to decide for themselves how much risk they want to take. Some people will cancel plane reservations, and some won’t. Some people will pull their children out of school, and some won’t. People deserve adequate information to make those decisions for themselves. ——unless you are comfortable with the government making all of those decisions for you. I am sure you are aware how appealing that idea may be for our current administration!!
As for the media, they love to blow everything into a big crisis. WHO and CDC have put the information out their in a cautionary, but not alarming way. They cannot be held responsible for the media’s overreaction.
Yeah. This is cruel to say, but it is about like the joy the media evidently felt at announcing each American soldier's death in Iraq.
About 35,000 Americans die each year from the flu or complications. Sibeleus will be able to point to those.
If she's not already appointed to the Supreme Court.