Serious Business

So the first US death due to swine flu! Happened to a kid almost 2 years old. They had gone to visit relatives in Mexico and got sick. Because this kid was so young, it makes me sad to think the virus could come to daycares and schools and spread like that. I sure am glad I got health insurance now.

So the first US death due to swine flu! Happened to a kid almost 2 years old. They had gone to visit relatives in Mexico and got sick. Because this kid was so young, it makes me sad to think the virus could come to daycares and schools and spread like that. I sure am glad I got health insurance now.

health insurance probably won't do you much good.  they say the shit is resistant to anti-virals and vaccines.

welcome to the apocalypse, folks.  no zombies, no nuclear war, no global warming, but a little bug from a pig and everyone coughing and with cold sweats.  what inglorious end to an inglorious species.

welcome to the apocalypse, folks.  no zombies, no nuclear war, no global warming, but a little bug from a pig and everyone coughing and with cold sweats.  what inglorious end to an inglorious species.

You say that now, but once the Jews and Muslims catch on that pork really can kill you, the religious wars will start.

welcome to the apocalypse, folks.  no zombies, no nuclear war, no global warming, but a little bug from a pig and everyone coughing and with cold sweats.  what inglorious end to an inglorious species.

You say that now, but once the Jews and Muslims catch on that pork really can kill you, the religious wars will start.

that'll be fun.

If you can get them to acknowledge what it is.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE53Q4VL20090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

If you can get them to acknowledge what it is.

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE53Q4VL20090427?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Does Israel have missiles that can reach Mexico?

There's another name foe the swine flu that the media isn't using. It's THE FLU.

Yes, it's a 'new strand', but then it's a new strand every single year. The swine flu is nothing new. Just a little more active than usual.

36000 people die every year of THE FLU in the US alone. The swine flu is even considered a "low deathrate strand" (CDC.gov)

Relax. The three little pigs aren't huffing and puffing us to death

The difference between people dying from regular flus and this Swine Flu is, the people that normally die from regular flus are the young, old and weak. This swine flu is in several countries, spreading very fast and we don' t know if it can kill typical adults as well. Ok, so not every case of it is dying, but this is still a threat. And this threat is in our city and in our schools. Devin, you're an EMT you see sick people and hurt people all the time, you go in and out of hospitals. If I had your job, I'd be a little more worried about my health and the health of my young children! I'm not trying to scare you or piss you off, I'm just a little shocked that you are so matter-of-fact about this virus. I'm not afraid for my life, but concerned for Pearl's safety. The only fatality in the US was to a kid just a few months younger than Pearl, I know she's a generally healthy and strong little girl, but I'd hate for her to get any strain of the flu.

It is now a phase 5 pandemic.

The swine flu is weaker, and has not been spreading as quickly as the regular old flu. This is according to a live CNN interview with a World Health Organization interview I just watched. The media is just hyping this up.
But it was good that we acted like we did. It wasn't an over reaction, because we didn't know anything about the virus, it might have been an actual problem. But as it stands now, fewer have died from swine flu than the regular flu, in just the past few months.

The regular flu has killed over ten thousand this year. Annually it kills over 30,000. So, when comparing, the swine flu is a pussy and nothing to worry about. Only a tiny percentage of those who have gotten it have died. Only one person in the U.S. and that was a child.

The difference between people dying from regular flus and this Swine Flu is, the people that normally die from regular flus are the young, old and weak. This swine flu is in several countries, spreading very fast and we don' t know if it can kill typical adults as well. Ok, so not every case of it is dying, but this is still a threat. And this threat is in our city and in our schools. Devin, you're an EMT you see sick people and hurt people all the time, you go in and out of hospitals. If I had your job, I'd be a little more worried about my health and the health of my young children! I'm not trying to scare you or piss you off, I'm just a little shocked that you are so matter-of-fact about this virus. I'm not afraid for my life, but concerned for Pearl's safety. The only fatality in the US was to a kid just a few months younger than Pearl, I know she's a generally healthy and strong little girl, but I'd hate for her to get any strain of the flu.

It is now a phase 5 pandemic.

It's because of my profession that I'm so relaxed about this. It's probably pretty safe to say I read more medical journals daily than this group combined does in a month. The media has taken a virus that has a very minimal-moderate threat level and blown it way out of proportion. And because of that, the government is taking extra steps to far to quell the ensuing panic.
Trust me, it's just the fucking flu.

It's because of my profession that I'm so relaxed about this. It's probably pretty safe to say I read more medical journals daily than this group combined does in a month. The media has taken a virus that has a very minimal-moderate threat level and blown it way out of proportion. And because of that, the government is taking extra steps to far to quell the ensuing panic.
Trust me, it's just the fucking flu.

same way i will tell folks not to freak out about child molesters and child abductions (stranger).  the reality is that your children are in far bigger danger from a friend or family member than they are from a stranger abduction or rape.  the reality is that a good, true stranger abductions are incredibly rare.  we get somewhere to the tune of maybe 100/ year across the entire US.  in houston, we will see maybe 2 or 3 per year.  you spread that out over our roughly 6 million person population, and the chances of that happening are infinitesimal.  so the chances are that your kid will get seriously injured in a car accident, hit by lightning, or stick something in an electrical outlet and shock themselves.  the danger here is that we are making our kids terrified out of the outside world and encouraging them to turn into couch potatoes.  the park and the kids in the neighborhood are no longer "safe".  kind of like the fact that swimming pools kill hundreds of times more kids per year than handguns, but news stories about deadly swimming pools are not as sexy as news stories about guns.  ok, i'll get off my soapbox.  you all know what i am saying.

As it turns out, there's a pretty good "cure" already as well. It's called Tamiflu.


Roche is smiling, and possibly snorting, all the way to the bank.

As it turns out, there's a pretty good "cure" already as well. It's called Tamiflu.


Roche is smiling, and possibly snorting, all the way to the bank.

With a gift like that for turn-of-phrase, you could write for The Daily Show.

Yeah... One might say I've been a bit influenced by the teachings of the Daily Show write staff. I watch a lot of it.

I liked this thread better when we were making sarcastic jokes about the end of the world as we know it.

Oh well, I guess it's only a matter of time until tiger flu or shark flu or something comes after us.