Poll --> Swine Flu

[Fairy]

Corie and about six different things directly impacting me or my friends/family inspired me. Thought I'd see what we all thought.

[bubbaray]

According to the doc's at Children's last night -- complete over reaction.

And my province has at least 80 cases, mostly in elementary and younger children. So, these docs are WELL aware of what this risk is. They said it is less problematic medically than regular influenza, but that people are hysterical.

[kijip]

I lean closer to complete over-reaction than your other options BUT I will say the situation is not 100% nothing because of possible future spread. As in, I think learning about it and being aware of what may happen in the future is a good idea. Closing schools because someone at the school knows someone who knows someone that went to Texas or because 1 child has a brother sneezing at home is overreacting. If we want to live like that, we should just close all schools and eateries right now and just stay home with no social interactions whatsoever.

With the thousands that die every year from flu in this country, I do think adding the word "swine" gets people worked up in a way a story on the 10,000+ flu deaths we have in the US per year would not.

[o_mom]

I'm at a bit of over-reaction. Based on what was known when it first came out - wide-spread in Mexico, seeming to kill healthy 20-40 yos, not anything like any flu virus seen or vaccinated for in 30-40 years - it was right to step up surveillence and start low level steps toward containment in case it turned out to be very virilent or deadly. However, the media panic was nuts and the general public's take on it was crazy. As a poster on another board said.... the scary part is the panicked people, not the flu.

[kransden]

I live in AZ and lots of people get sick/die because of poor healthcare. I think the hype here is appropriate, other places probably not so much. BTW, one of dd's 1st grade friend's mom DIED at age 24 (teen mom) from complications of pneumonia. She didn't go to the hospital until it was too late. So I would rather the news scare the heck out of everyone here instead of causing a pandemic.

[scrooks]

I think it's been over blown a bit. What does make me nervous is the talk of it possibly mutating and/or coming back stronger in the fall and winter.

[ThreeofUs]

Well, I voted for "right level of concern", mainly because I was thinking of the reaction from the medical community and governments.

We're lucky with this outbreak - it was pretty mild. Mild enough to make all the attention it got pretty annoying, right? The next one might hit much harder and faster. There's no way to tell how virulent the flu will be, so I'd rather see a big response to a minor outbreak than the reverse.

[traciann]

completely over blown. let's shut down schools ever year when the flu hits.

[DrSally]

Well, I voted for "right level of concern", mainly because I was thinking of the reaction from the medical community and governments.

We're lucky with this outbreak - it was pretty mild. Mild enough to make all the attention it got pretty annoying, right? The next one might hit much harder and faster. There's no way to tell how virulent the flu will be, so I'd rather see a big response to a minor outbreak than the reverse.

:yeahthat: That's pretty much why I voted for "right level of concern" from the gov and medical community. With the initial deaths from Mexico and the initial similarities to previous pandemics, I think it was right to take containment measures in the beginning. What if it had turned out to be far more virulent and deadly but we didn't take those containment measures? We would've only found out after it was too late to take those steps, KWIM? I'm very glad it doesn't seem to be as deadly or virulent as was feared, and also am glad that the gov acted quickly on that chance that it would be.