Obama Administration Pushing Swine Flu Panic

It has been just over one week since Mexico reported an outbreak of H1N1Influenza A, also known more commonly as the Swine Flu.  Since Mexico’s announcement there has been a flurry of activity, first from the Obama Administration, then from the UN’s WHO.  The push is on for a major world-wide panic.  Secretary Janet Napolitano said, “There is no need to panic, but people will get sick, and people will die.”  In other words, “We don’t want you to panic, but you are going to get swine flu and die!”  Vice President Joe Biden said, “I wouldn’t ride in a plane or train right now.”  He didn’t believe it was smart to get into a confined space with people coughing and sneezing and trying to give you swine flu so you could “get sick and die.”  Our Illoustrious Leader, Barack Obama, said, “Cover your mouth when you cough and wash your hands.  If you feel sick don’t go to work, don’t send your kids to school.”  I can just imagine what my boss will say monday when I call him to say, ”I think I feel sick, just to protect the company, I will go fishing this week.”  Probably something along the lines of, “You can go fishing all week, all month, and all year for all I care.  You do need to find a new job, though.”

It is nice to know that our government is concerned for our health, but we need to look at some facts before we jump into the panic they seem to be pushing us towards.

Cases of Swin Flu                      Population                           Percentage of sick

World-wide 787                         6.7Billion                             0.000012%

Mexico        506                         111.2Million                        0.000455%

US              160                          300Million                           0.000053%

There are other countries involved, but these are the major numbers, Canada is getting close with 70 confirmed cases as of this morning, but not worth listing unless we list all 15 countries in the world that have confirmed cases of swine flu.  That is it, only 15 countries, only 787 cases world-wide.  And only 19 deaths, one in the US and the rest in Mexico (the one death in the US was a Mexican child brought to the US for medical treatment).  That is only a 2.414231% fatality rate.

Not exactly threatening.  The numbers aren’t there.  At the risk of sounding overly-complacent, in the eyes of the government or anyone else prone to worrying, call me when the numbers are more disconcerting.  Say maybe around 4 or 5% getting sick with 10% of those dying.  Then I will get concerned.  Until then, I’m taking Obama’s advice and going fishing, just tell my boss it is the President’s orders, I think I have a fever.