Some how I’ve managed to escape all the madness of the H1N1 virus. Even though I’ve traveled to Aruba, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Haiti in the past 4 months, I’ve been able to shield myself from all the germs and people that have been affected by the deadly so-called “swine flu”. Nonetheless, I have not been able to escape the news of the virus and the CDC and White House updates on how many people it has affected and it’s status updates of who’s next to get sick, or even worse, die.
Today I noticed how the CDC’s twitter site is loaded with tweets regarding updates on hospitalizations and deaths from the virus, adding informational H1N1 widgets to web pages or blogs and even how to create a video PSA with the message of preventing or dealing with the flu!
Every where you look, someone is saying that thousands are goign to die from the flu. Now is this going a little overboard? Not according to a report released on Monday from President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
“The report says the current strain ‘poses a serious health threat’ to the nation. The issue is not that the virus is more deadly than other flu strains, but rather that it is likely to infect more people than usual because it is a new strain against which few people have immunity,” the White House said.
So now I wonder, how far is too far? Some people are freaking out over the flu and thinking they are going to die. While others aren’t worried about it, because it simply hasn’t hit home or they will wait to see if these statistics add up.
Should you keep your kids home?
Should you call out sick from work at the first symptom of a cold?
Is enough ever going to be enough?
In an article written by Rob Lovitt, from msnbc.com:
“Last week, a White House advisory panel issued a report saying that 60-120 million Americans could become infected this fall and winter and as many as 90,000 could die. A day later, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency tasked with protecting public health, said that was highly unlikely.”
So who do we believe, the White House or CDC? And is it really necessary to alarm people that 90,000 Americans can die? I think statements like that are going to start getting this whole nation on a panic. Yes people should be informed but do people need to be scared, or just merely concerned?
Tags: CDC, h1n1, msnbc, White House
