Loosing a loved one to disease is a tragedy that is suffered by people of every race, creed, and national origin. Whether it is cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, or swine flu, it is the blinding pain of loosing someone you care for and being powerless to stop it.
But whenever the media starts frothing like this, it concerns me. And the journalism surrounding Swine Flu strikes me as having a particularly jaundiced glow.
For instance, take a look at this list of Pandemic outbreaks so far this year BEFORE swine flu provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). See the link for specific data on deaths etc if you're interested.
23 April 2009
Meningococcal disease in Chad
23 April 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 13
21 April 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 12
17 April 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 11
8 April 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 10
8 April 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update 5
31 March 2009
Ebola Reston in pigs and humans in the Philippines - update
30 March 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 9
25 March 2009
Meningococcal Disease: situation in the African Meningitis Belt
23 March 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 8
23 March 2009
Cholera in Zimbabwe - update 3
11 March 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 7
10 March 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 6
4 March 2009
Meningococcal disease in Nigeria - update
2 March 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 5
2 March 2009
Polio in Sudan – high risk of international spread
27 February 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update 4
24 February 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update 3
20 February 2009
Cholera in Zimbabwe - update 2
19 February 2009
Meningococcal disease in Nigeria
18 February 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update 2
17 February 2009
End of Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
11 February 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update
9 February 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 4
5 February 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 3
3 February 2009
Ebola Reston in pigs and humans in the Philippines
2 February 2009
Avian influenza – situation in China - update 4
30 January 2009
Efforts must be intensified to control Zimbabwe cholera outbreak [WHO PRESS RELEASE]
27 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in China - update 3
26 January 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 2
24 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in China - update 2
22 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia
19 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in China - update
14 January 2009
Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update
14 January 2009
Yellow fever in Guinea
11 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam - update
7 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in China
7 January 2009
Avian influenza – situation in Viet Nam
6 January 2009
Poliomyelitis in Nigeria and West Africa
6 January 2009
Yellow fever in Sierra Leone
2 January 2009
Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - update
Each of these is associated with deaths, in some cases many many deaths. What is it about this flu that requires not preparedness, not preventative information, but nationwide and worldwide panic?
There has been One (1) death from Swine flu in the US. Which is tragic. But it is also one single little boy.
In context, in the week ending April 18th there were 55 deaths attributed to non-swine flu in the US. (See link for all kinds of data).
So my point is simply that the media is out there selling papers and tv ads, and we're in a serious "Boy who cried wolf" cycle.
The Obama administration is going to take full use of the situation (and already has) to cement the itself as the non-Katrian Administration.
The Republicans are going to shut up and pretend it isn't pretty awesome to have a government with the resources to handle the crisis.
More money will be siphoned into flu preparedness, and we got ourselves a secretary of HHS.
But beyond that, maybe the media should ask whether it is doing more harm then good getting everyone panicky.
The chances are, and I hope I'm right, that Swine flu will go much the way of SARS. "After Its Epidemic Arrival, SARS Vanishes" - NYT May 15, 2005.
Interestingly, that is the last time SARS was noted in an NYT article until April 28, 2009: Assessing the Danger of New Flu which basically lays out how unbelievably hard core Hong Kong is about this kind of thing. But it also doesn't make the case that better preparation (there are 20 million courses of tamiflu in Hong Kong for a population of 7 million...) keeps people more calm.
...The territory’s stock market suffered some of the heaviest losses in Asia on Monday on swine flu fears. The Hang Seng Index fell 2.74 percent. Shares of Cathay Pacific, the dominant airline here, dropped 8 percent and shares of mainland China’s Air China fell 12.8 percent on fears that many passengers will stop flying.