Americans told to wear masks as swine flu spreads

[Apoptosis]

Thought this was interesting:

North of the border, in the US, doctors were advising people worried about the illness to buy painters’ masks from DIY stores as a precautionary measure. Authorities across the globe were torn between the imperative of slowing the spread of a potential flu pandemic and the need to avoid bringing every big city to a grinding halt.

Source

I wonder how bad this is going to get.

[Skippman]

I hope not bad at all. While the CDC is VERY VERY good at what it does historically speaking American towns have been ill equiped to deal with natural disasters let alone a pandemic.

[FZ1]

Oh God...what a media frenzy this is. Granted, it's something we should keep an eye on but people are becoming terrified to leave their houses when the US authorities admit that: A) the US cases reported were mild and no deaths have occurred B) They have no details on the Mexican deaths - not age, not health, not access to proper health care, nothing. For all we know the people who died were already in poor health, didn't visit a doctor and were elderly or very young. The regular flu can be deadly if you are already in a fragile state.

Live more worry less!

[InspectahACE]

This reminds me of that Dustin Hoffman movie " Outbreak"...cept this time it wasn't a monkey...

[DMB2000uk]

Maybe it'll get us all like the bird flu did.

Dan

[Sporg]

The bird flu had nothing on the devastating effects of the HIV. Remember how that was going to wipe out most of the world's population?

Obviously anything left unchecked is bad. Oh yeah, and KS is on the list.

[Alathald]

I don't get why the whole country is making such a big deal, the swine flu has symptoms that mirror the regular flu and the death rates are actually lower. The suggestion to wear masks when there is an outbreak is the same one they give during the normal flu season, it's only because this has been sensationalised by every news channel out there that people are paying attention.

Guess it was a slow news day now that they can't make inane jokes about the teabaggers so someone decide 'lets incite mass panic'. Damn sheeple

</rant>

[Darkstar]

Its not just the country, the WHO raised to Phase 5 (Pandemic) today.....

[geokilla]

The Swine Flu originated from H1N1, just like the Spanish Flu and it's spreading pretty quickly all around the world. Sure it's a flu, but to infect this many people in such a short time is a thing to worry about. Of course, there's also the fact that there may have been some earlier cases of Swine Flu in Mexico which we didn't know bout, hence the reason why it's spreading so quickly.

I believe the WHO did the right thing in raise it to Level 5.

I wonder if this will be the next SARS....

[Illuminati]

Given the seriousness of this infection, one of the guys I work with discovered the source of the swine flu with intense research and investigation!

swineflu.jpg (46.62 KiB) Viewed 3606 times

I guess I'm just not impressed with the number of infected cases to warrant a panic by news agencies and the WHO. If we were talking thousands with a 10%+ mortality rate, then I'd consider all the hype justified.

[Major_A]

Thought this was interesting:

North of the border, in the US, doctors were advising people worried about the illness to buy painters’ masks from DIY stores as a precautionary measure. Authorities across the globe were torn between the imperative of slowing the spread of a potential flu pandemic and the need to avoid bringing every big city to a grinding halt.

Source

I wonder how bad this is going to get.

At least you don't live in New New Mexico, aka Texas.