I don't know much about the swine flu. In fact, I had to look up the meaning of pandemic today to make sure I understood it.
pan⋅dem⋅ic [pan-dem-ik]
–adjective
(of a disease) prevalent throughout an entire country, continent, or the whole world; epidemic over a large area.
I do, however, know the meaning of the word contagious, and I got a better than passing grade in math. Actually, I got straight A's in math. I was a nerd. I was in gifted classes, but that is not the point of this blog.
Seriously...how does this work out?
Swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people in Mexico and sickening over 2,400 there. WHO has confirmed 105 cases in seven countries, not yet including Germany. Over half of those are in the United States, but Mexico is the only country where deaths have been confirmed.
-Fox News (4/29/09)
"At this point, (health officials) have not recommended a border closing," he said. "From their perspective, it would be akin to closing the barn door after the horses are out, because we already have cases here in the United States."
-President Obama (4/29/09)
It seems to me that if I had a few horses get out of the barn, but several horses were still "containable," I'd shut the damn door. It seems to me that if there are thousands of cases bordering us to the south, we might want to do a little screening of those we're inviting in (and those sneaking in--ahem!). To be so nonchalant at the borders and airports while every day our government tells us that the threat is growing and spreading throughout the world is slightly infuriating (though I suspect this strain will weaken soon and most of us will be ok regardless), but today the little English freak in me is outraged by this:
-THAT IS ONE STUPID ANALOGY.
Stupid analogies are one of my pet peeves. Boo.
If someone doesn't talk to Obama soon and stop the madness, stupid analogies could persist for four to eight years and spread! If you don't believe me, just listen to all the people now saying "Nuke-you-lar" on AM radio following the Bush presidency.
FOLLOW UP:
A couple excerpt from a CNN article on the spread of swine flu...
(HISTORY REPEATS)
In each of the four major pandemics since 1889, a spring wave of relatively mild illness was followed by a second wave, a few months later, of a much more virulent disease. This was true in 1889, 1957, 1968 and in the catastrophic flu outbreak of 1918, which sickened an estimated third of the world's population and killed, conservatively, 50 million people.
(A COLORADO BORDER CLOSING)
Markel describes a dramatic example in the mining town of Gunnison, Colorado. In 1918, town leaders built a veritable barricade, closing down the railroad station and blocking all roads into town. Four thousand townspeople lived on stockpiled supplies and food from hunting or fishing. For 3½ months, while influenza raged in nearly every city in America, Gunnison saw not a single case of flu -- not until the spring, when roads were reopened and a handful of residents fell sick.
HMMM...SO IT WORKS. BUT IT'S DRAMATIC.
Visit LIFE.com for photographs of the lethal flu pandemic of 1918
