The radio is rife with reports of “all the” deaths from swine flu (currently 29). This is because radio newsreaders’ newsroom editors are as thick as pig shit. As, it may prove later in the day, are TV news people. (And currently, there are 650 people currently infected and alive.)
Note, July 17 – the forecast, today, of 65,000 deaths – or maybe just 3,000 – is little more than a wild guess. There’s not the slightest evidence to support the upper figure, and the lower figure is, as I’ve said, lower than normal. It would be nice if officialdom stopped panicking people and actually did something useful for a change…
Look – pay attention – in the UK, and I’ve said this before in my various pandemic flu posts, around 10,000 people die, directly and indirectly, from ordinary flu every winter. 10,000 – not 29 in three months, almost the length of an average flu season.
So please, can we have some perspective? Swine flu is occasionally fatal. Ordinary flu is a lot more fatal. So far at least.
I’m not trying to minimise the problem; hell, if I get it there’s a good chance, given my severe COPD, that I’ll die. But hey, that risk comes around every winter – normal flu has a bout a 50/50 chance of killing me. What we need to do is treat this flu with respect, not paranoia.
Trouble is, the government has been pissing about too long with its wait and see policy, instead of isolating everyone who’s been potentially exposed. And this is one area where civil liberties count for nothing – it’s a case of the greatest good for the greatest number.
But, hey, it’s three months too late for that. Back in May, everyone getting off a plane from Mexico, or anywhere else where this bug was known, should have been confined in isolation.
The official suck it and see policy – hopelessly incompetent as it is – is, as sure as god made little green apples, going to come back and bite us in the ass.
In addition, I keep seeing people telling us that face-masks don’t work, which is rubbish. True, surgical masks don’t work with a virus, you might as well wrap a scarf around your mouth, but the N95 bird flu virus mask does work (or, at least, is claimed to). Use the search function (top right), to chase down previous posts with information on where to get them, and other advice, primarily for people with COPD put applicable to everyone.
The important thing, though, even if you’re in a high risk group. is to check the swine flu map to see if you’re at risk from cases in your area, and take the appropriate precautions – see here and here .
