Today's "Pandemic" Update

According to this morning's foxnews.com update, there are now 331 confirmed human cases of this H1N1 virus worldwide, in eleven countries, with 141 of them scattered across 19 U.S. states. To give some badly-needed perspective on the situation, that is approximately 1 in every 2.15 million Americans. Or to look at it another way, approximately 3000 babies will be murdered in their mother's womb today. Somehow that seems far more tragic.

And some of these flu folks are already on the road to recovery.

Some of the overblown reactions include the following:

• Approximately 300 schools have closed.
• The president wants $1.5 billion spent.
  
• Joe Biden spoke. [See below]
  
• An estimated 12,000 people logged on to a government webcast on the topic yesterday.
• The governor of Wisconsin declared a public health emergency, after two probable cases of swine flu were identified.
• Slippery Rock University is holding a separate graduation for 22 students who just returned from a trip to Mexico, despite the fact that all of them appear to be in good health.
• Several countries have placed bans on pork imports; in Egypt, hundreds of hogs were slaughtered. This virus is not transmitted by pigs.

With all respect to those who are suffering from this flu, it must be pointed out that in the worldwide scope of things, this is not a big deal. Thousands of people will die today from things more contagious and dangerous than H1N1.

Be calm, and have a great weekend.