“It’s laughable this few cases would be designated a “pandemic.” I suppose they need to scare people to jack up their funding, but they have no credibility left with me.”
They are trying to warn and educate people about this flu, and what they should do if they have flu symptoms. With the information they provide, you can then make a more informed decision about whether you want to travel, etc. Would you prefer that they did not inform you when a contagious disease exists?
A pandemic is defined by the number and location of the virus. It has nothing to do with the severity of the virus, but many people don’t seem to understand what that means. There isn’t any debate at all over whether this is a pandemic or not. Clearly it is. This flu could be dangerous, or not, but no one knows what it is going to do at this point. There have been 30,000 plus cases confirmed by labs so far. They usually only run labs on the most severe cases, so there are many more cases that are not included in the numbers. Next fall they will have a much better idea of where this is heading.
It would be stupid to panic over this flu, at this point in time. It is equally ignorant to claim that it is not a pandemic, and it is all designed to scare people. I recommend that people pay attention to the information and recommendations made by the CDC. They are doing a good job on this flu.