Originally Posted by
RockyBoy
I'll admit I don't know much about the nature of an epidemic, but don't you think that we have much better medicine now than we did in 1900? It is just another form of the flu. Thousands of people die each year with the normal flu and we don't panic over that so why should we panic over 20 people in Mexico dying from the swine flu? They have already said that the Tamiflu shots are effective at fighting off this virus if you get it so it shouldn't be that big of a fear should it?
FYI, 36,000 people die annually in the U.S. from the flu.
What is the Flu & How to Know if You Have the Flu
I don't see why 20 people dying in Mexico from a variation of the flu that can be treated with Tamiflu is such a big deal. Recession is ending so the media needs something else to strike fear into the nation.
Panic isn't rational. That's why it's called "panic", so nice sounding arguments from your government health officials won't necessarily have any impact (assuming you trust them anyway). Panic is also a well-evolved survival mechanism that isn't necessarily bad, either.
Most of the people who die from the flu in the US annually are the old and infirm. Virulent (and this case, new) strains of something like swine flu actually impact the young and healthy disproportionally. As I understand it, their stronger immune systems actually goes into overdrive so much, it kills them trying to fight off the disease.
Officially, the dead count in Mexico is actually over 100, and rising. Considering the comparative backwardness of the Mexican government, the actual number is probably far, far higher. As to the "better drugs" argument, I certainly hope you're right. The fact is though, there's a great deal about the flu and epidemics experts don't know . . . like why the 1976 flu strain just seemed to die out on it's own, for example.
There's already been one school closing in Queens, NY due to several students having been diagnosed with this flu. It's here in the US already, and there's no getting the genie back in the bottle at this point (it's also in Canada, New Zealand, France, and Israel)
In keeping with the "latest and greatest" Delta thread though, the impact is obvious. EU health officials are already recommending against travel to the US and Mexico. Delta stock has taken a pretty big hit this morning. Even if it doesn't spread throughout the general populace, it could really impact the amount of people who want to share a small space in a tube with strangers.
I think this has the potential to derail summer traffic in a significant fashion.