Swine Flu Outbreak

This whole swine flu thing is getting a little ridiculous to me. I do understand that it could become a pandemic (which is scary) and I do understand that it is killing people (which is sad), but I also understand that what is being said about swine flu was also said about bird flu and SARS. Even if this is worse, which it very well may be, I have no idea, worrying isn’t going to help anything. So far, to my knowledge, the virus has not been deadly in the US and there are people who are definitely recovering.

I’m waiting for people in the city to break out the masks as there are confirmed cases of 20 high school students in Queens, as well as at least one employee at Earnst & Young (according to my roommate). While masks might be a smart preventative measure to take, they will make me snicker.

My roommate is freaked out by this whole thing and is eating up the news the media is putting out about it. My question though, is at what point does journalism become irresponsible. Of course this is something that is news worthy and should be covered so that people are aware of both its existence as well as symptoms, treatments, and when it is appropriate to go to the hospital. However, at some point that line can be breached and people are now having a sense of fear instilled into them rather than just getting the news.

I’m to the point that I don’t really want to hear much more about this. I know it exists, I know the symptoms are like any other flu, I know it’s spreading across the world and could become a pandemic, but I also know that even in 1918 when there was an influenza pandemic, it only killed 2% of the population. I do understand that 2% is a lot of people, but in perspective, it’s nothing compared to something like the bubonic plague that killed 25%-50% of Europe’s population.

In short, I am aware of the swine flu, the chances of my dying from it are small, and I’m tired of hearing about it.