Swine Flu in Mn (Duluth: live, moving, estimated)

[golfgal]

Swine Flu Case Now Suspected in Minnesota | Northland's NewsCenter NBC 6, CBS 3, My 9, and Northland CW for Duluth MN / Superior WI | Local News

If you haven't been following the news, there is a Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico that has been moving into the US. There are confirmed cases in Texas, Kansas, New York and now MN. If you have traveled to Mexico in the past 2 weeks and have flu symptoms you are urged to contact your dr.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Taken from CDC - Influenza (Flu) | Q & A: The Disease (That is the Center’s For Disease Control which is our Governments Official website).

“How many people get sick or die from the flu every year?[/SIZE]

Each flu season is unique, but it is estimated that, on average, approximately 5% to 20% of U.S. residents get the flu, and more than 200,000 persons are hospitalized for flu-related complications each year. About 36,000 Americans die on average per year from the complications of flu.”

So 36,000 people die EACH YEAR in the USA from the flu. So far, this flu has killed 100 people. So is it the time to panic??

It almost seems like the CDC wants a pandemic. It’s like a volunteer firefighter wanting a fire to fight. They have been planning for this their whole life. I wonder if some of them want to use their training??


Chalk up the Swine Flu in the same category as Y2K, Killer Bees, Global Warming, Anthrax, SAR’s etc.

[bbtrips]

I do see your point MN-Born-and-Raised. It is so easy to hype everything nowdays with 24 cable news coverage, and all the various media. It is sometimes overwhelming, and then they end up losing the message. I don't know if it's really the CDC overhyping it, though - they just put out information, and the news programs go over and over through the worst case scenarios. I think the CDC is being more pragmatic about it.

The big difference from a flu that nobody has immunity to is that it often kills people in the prime of their life, rather than end-of-spectrum lives. The pandemic of 1918 started out very similar to this one - actually starting to lose it's steam in May of that year - only to come back and kill more than 100 million people in AUGUST of that year. That's a lot of people in the 25 to 40 year old range (parents, etc). That's what is so scary about this - it's not just the elderly - but people in their prime.

Just my two cents

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by bbtrips

I do see your point MN-Born-and-Raised. It is so easy to hype everything nowdays with 24 cable news coverage, and all the various media. It is sometimes overwhelming, and then they end up losing the message. I don't know if it's really the CDC overhyping it, though - they just put out information, and the news programs go over and over through the worst case scenarios. I think the CDC is being more pragmatic about it.

The big difference from a flu that nobody has immunity to is that it often kills people in the prime of their life, rather than end-of-spectrum lives. The pandemic of 1918 started out very similar to this one - actually starting to lose it's steam in May of that year - only to come back and kill more than 100 million people in AUGUST of that year. That's a lot of people in the 25 to 40 year old range (parents, etc). That's what is so scary about this - it's not just the elderly - but people in their prime.

Just my two cents

Out of the 36,000 people that died in the USA last year from the flu, I am sure there were several people in their prime that died. Sure the media and the government hypes it but the CDC got to "Level 5" overnight. What happen to Level 1-4???

So 20 total people have died from the Swine Flu in total. But on average, 3,000 died last month from the "regular flu" in the USA. I understand that these diseases can mutate and possibly become a serious issues. So can any of last several year flu viruses. Never mind the fact that I have not had the flu in 20 flu seasons which is probably typical.

The symptoms of the Swine Flu are headache, fever, chills and sore muscles. It's not even the rough stuff. I'm not concerned. Someone with the Swine Flu can cough on me and I wouldn't worry a bit. If people were dropping like flies then the hype would be justified. It's Y2K and Killer Bee's all over again...