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.

And Then There's the Vice-President's Comments...

Two minutes after I finished the last post, I hear on the radio that our [remove disrespectful adjective here] vice-president had the following scare-mongering to say:

"I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places right now," Biden said. "It's not that its going to Mexico, it's that you are in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes, it goes everywhere through the aircraft. That's me."

He added that his advice is offered as a means to slow down the spread of the flu, which has now resulted in infections in 11 states and 100 schools being shut down around the nation.

"I would not be at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway. From my perspective, it relates to is mitigation. If you're out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes that's one thing. If you're in a closed aircraft, a closed container, closed car, a closed classroom, it's a different thing," Biden said.

This from the man who famously rode Amtrak thousands of times. Naturally, the Air Transport Association is unhappy with the comments, and his office tried to smooth over his comments to say something...else.

Remember: There are far fewer people roaming America with this flu virus than there are carrying other communicable things.

Thoughts on the "Pandemic"

I'm told there is a "swine flu pandemic"...although the term swine flu is not really accurate.

For that matter, neither is the term "pandemic." According to dictionary.com, the definition of this noun is:

prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.

Prevalent? Let's look at that definition, too:

1. widespread; of wide extent or occurrence; in general use or acceptance.
2. having the superiority or ascendancy.

There may be thousands of cases of this flu—in Mexico, with its population of 110,000,000—but the definition of pandemic just does not seem to be met by this spreading virus.

I heard on the radio today that a grand total of 7 [that's seven, as in one more than six] deaths are attributed to this flu, all of them but one in Mexico. That may not be the most up-to-date number at the moment you read this, but it hardly ranks up there with the most common causes of death in America [technically, abortion is the #1 cause of death in America]:

1. Heart disease (approximately 652,000 in 2005)
   
2. Cancer (559,000)
3. Stroke (143,000)
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases (130,000)
5. Accidents/unintentional injuries (117,000)
6. Diabetes (75,000)
7. Alzheimer's (71,000)
8. Influenza/pneumonia (63,000)

Notice #8, which accounted for an average of about 173 deaths per day (2005) in the U.S.A. And this is only the eighth-most common cause of death; it is only about one-tenth of the number of heart disease deaths.

So why is there such a big deal being made about this "pandemic"?

• Could it be because groups and organizations like WHO and CDC want to make themselves relevant in their lives? Or more to the point, because they want more funding?
  
• Could it be because the media have virtually no grasp of statistics?
• Could it be because people, not finding comfort and peace in God, suddenly have a new thing to worry about?

There are various reports in the U.S.A. about schools closing today; Texas sports events have been postponed. This is an overreaction (except perhaps for that one Catholic school in NY which has multiple confirmed cases). Those relative few who have this flu should be kept away from the rest of the population, and life should continue. The percentage of Americans who have this particular virus is still far fewer than the percentages of Americans who have a variety of other spreadable viruses, diseases, etc.

Calm down, folks. It's not as bad as the media and government want you to think.