(no subject)
Swine flu: What you need to know.
As you can see, this isn't even epidemic status yet, it is merely a widespread outbreak. And, the only deaths have been in Mexico City, which I can imagine has more to do with perhaps sub-par sanitary conditions of the various workers involved rather than the power of this virus. Further, you'll note that all cases outside of Mexico City have been less severe, again reinforcing my first point. Lastly, the severity can be combatted with widespread flu treatement, and some people will have some capacity to fight it themselves already (for reasons given in the article).
This is why I don't read the news, and why I do read science.
(EDIT: Admittedly, however, these things always need to be caught as soon as possible, so the added hype - even if panic-inducing - might be a benefit. Given the relative lack of impact (200 cases in a week is not overly contagious) the panic factor is less severe. Had it been 200 over the same distances in a few days, then yes it would be more worrying, and we would need to control panic.)
As you can see, this isn't even epidemic status yet, it is merely a widespread outbreak. And, the only deaths have been in Mexico City, which I can imagine has more to do with perhaps sub-par sanitary conditions of the various workers involved rather than the power of this virus. Further, you'll note that all cases outside of Mexico City have been less severe, again reinforcing my first point. Lastly, the severity can be combatted with widespread flu treatement, and some people will have some capacity to fight it themselves already (for reasons given in the article).
This is why I don't read the news, and why I do read science.
(EDIT: Admittedly, however, these things always need to be caught as soon as possible, so the added hype - even if panic-inducing - might be a benefit. Given the relative lack of impact (200 cases in a week is not overly contagious) the panic factor is less severe. Had it been 200 over the same distances in a few days, then yes it would be more worrying, and we would need to control panic.)