Swine flu, renamed under pork-lobby pressure to “influenza A (H1N1) virus, human,” and referred to as “killer Mexican flu” by anti-immigration activists, had infected 985 people, or 0.0000145 percent of the world's population... Mexico shut down for five days to contain the illness, China began to quarantine Mexicans, and Vice President Joe Biden appeared on television and counseled U.S. citizens to avoid airplanes, subways, and classrooms, which led to protests by the travel industry. “I think the vice president misrepresented what the vice president wanted to say,” explained Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Egypt, which has no cases of the flu, ordered all its pigs killed, especially slum pigs... (more at the link)*(The other is The Atlantic) Via Boing-Boing.
05 May 2009
Comments about swine flu
Harper's is one of my two favorite magazines*; here's an excerpt from the most recent "Weekly Review" column:
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This is the most over-hyped scare mongering since the Y2K panic.
ReplyDeleteSeriously. People forget that the normal seasonal flu kills 36,000 each year. And it sounds like the strain is not super virulent, so even if you do get sick (like most people do each year anyway), proper care and hygiene will probably get you recovered in no time.
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