Posted on 01/02/2010 6:44:32 PM PST by delacoert
Some of you may find this to be a big surprise, but a Harvard study shows that the great swine flu pandemic was oversold. Shocking I know, as one doctor points out, “The H1N1 pandemic was a pandemic that never materialized.” Then I guess you could call the swine flu pandemic oversold, wouldn’t you think?
The Harvard study uses the deaths from H1N1 back in the spring and projecting what they would have been in the fall suggests that the swine flu pandemic was indeed oversold by a government willing to allow its citizens to be in a constant state of fear. Some had suggested all along that the government was using the news of a possible swine flu pandemic as a means of fear mongering. Hard to believe, huh? A fear mongering government, who would have thought?
This is in no way intended to make light of those who did die from the disease, but let’s think back to all of the reports telling us that small children, older people, and pregnant women were dying by the thousands and the pandemic had reached biblical proportions. Perhaps swine flu was oversold. But why?
The CDC had previously estimated that nearly 100,000 people would die from the swine flu. We haven’t yet reached 10,000 and most flu activity has leveled off. The CDC now reports that just 11 states have widespread flu activity. The government was at one time in full throated vaccination mode. Joe Biden himself said he wouldn’t ride the subway. Once again, why?
At one time, it was feared the swine flu pandemic would cause there to be worldwide shortage of the much needed swine flu vaccine. Now, just a few months later, with swine flu oversold to the degree it has been, a surplus of vaccinations looks to be the order. Nice call governments of the world.
Is there likely to be more flu cases before springtime? Most definitely, but I’m no doctor. The fact is the swine flu pandemic was oversold to a public that sometimes seems to feed on doom and gloom. A perfect situation for a fear mongering government. Is it possible the pandemic was touted to take the public’s mind off of more serious subjects like the war, economy, terrorism, the government takeover of well, everything? I’m not generally into conspiracy theories but the swine flu oversell makes you wonder.
H1N1=AGW=Y2K.
Honestly, this is the third time I’ve freaked out with them.
My New Year’s Resolution is to TRULY put my life in the Lord’s Hands.
I’m not panicked - now, or at the height of the Swine Flu Scare, but I am prepared. My point is that a pandemic is not unthinkable - so it is more than reasonable to take precautions.
Yes, we are better able to deal with secondary infections than we were in 1918. However, if the healthcare system is overwhelmed, which is a distinct possibility, you may be forced to deal with those infections yourself. Drugs like Tamiflu might help, but they might also lose their effectiveness as the virus mutates.
In 1918, there were three waves. They did not start with troops in the trenches in France. They started with troops in basic training cantonments in the U.S. - which are not all that different from other environments, like schools or the recirculating air of a passenger jet, from a transmission perspective. The first wave did little damage. The second wave was the killer. The third wave, which had it struck alone would still have ranked among the most deadly epidemics in history, paled in comparison to the second wave - which completely overwhelmed hospitals, and the numbers of doctors and nurses available.
Our sons had the opportunity to be vaccinated through the school district a few weeks ago. The lines were long, and by then most of the wave of fall flu cases seemed to have passed, and we skipped the vaccine. We assumed that vaccine supplies would start catching up now and that if the ugly bug got uglier there would probably be vaccine available. So far it seems like we've made the right call. Herd immunity should be on their side now too, since a large number of their schoolmates stood in those long lines or endured the flu already.
And the treatment was the brand new Miracle Drug, Aspirin.
Look up what that did.
Along with NO Antibiotics for secondary infection.
Stop the fearmongering. It’s a freakin’ 100 years later. Medicine has advanced, for heaven’s sake!
>>Only oversold if you haven’t contracted it<<
You must have a REALLY low tolerance for pain.
It wasn’t that bad. I know at least 20 people who had it. Tested positive. It made you really tired but anyone could function.
>>Yep. It doesn’t take Harvard to figure out that it was a hustle to keep the populace insecure and looking toward gubbermint to save them. <<
Thank you.
Exactly.
Of course, there was a shortage. Like most other shortages, it was caused by government-fueled hype.
There was a thread on FR awhile back which linked to some research that showed alot of the problem in 1918 was actually due to people overdosing on aspirin.
Aspirin was thought of as something of a miracle drug back then because it relieved flu symptoms. People took too much of it, hoping it would help them recover quickly. Instead it tended to produce inflammation of the lungs, which made them susceptible to pneumonia, which was the actual killer, not the flu itself.
LOL! We were warned of what the problem was, and how bad it might get.
We got advice on sanitation, hand sanitizers, vaccines, handwashing, handshaking, cleaning phone handpieces and other stuff that would mitigate a pandemic.
Then when the pandemic does not materialize, people assume that there was no threat, and much of it was a hoax.
What if the precautions worked?
Most of us have the good sense to understand that the government is wrong about nearly everything.
Their efforts to stampede us into
‘saving the financial system’,
‘saving the car companies’,
saving the world from global warming’,
‘saving the American people from the flu’
‘saving the American people from a broken health care system’
‘saving the American people from losing their homes’, and
‘saving the air traveler’
all stem from the very same root; an overwhelming and evil desire to control every aspect of our lives.
Fortunately they are no match for most Americans.
Don’t be such a fool.
I caught the swine flu back in November and was down for just about 10 days. It was worse than some flu and not as bad as others.
The differences with swine vs. seasonal:
1. It comes on fast. Healthy, feeling fine to on the couch under a blanket shivering in two hours.
2. Almost everyone at work in the same building caught it on the same day.
3. Pneumonia.
As far as I know of everyone I knew there were no hospitalizations.
Not a pandemic by any stretch of the imagination.
What if the precautions worked?
Do you suppose precautions followed in the USA spared those in mainland China from a pandemic? I don't think so, but that's just me.
Those who love freedom are going to have to volunteer like crazy, to make up for the imbalance. Obama is going to use the billions to make himself look good. He is a master liar, cheat and thief.
Harvard gets the ‘DUH’ award of 2009. What an embarrassment!
Well, I guess you told me! An ad hominem attack, spuriously citing a bunch of wholly unrelated issues, on which, BTW, we both agree. This clearly must be the same thing, huh? Why? What makes it the same?
Don't be so blinded by your own ideology that you ignore reality. Don't be so blinded by the other side's attempts to use this for political purposes that you ignore the element of truth behind this issue. Talk to epidemiologists and other doctors - many of whom are no friends of the Obama administration or the democrats. Do your research, before you jump down someone's throat - and by research, I mean real research, not just reading the uninformed opinions of others, here or elsewhere. I know doctors who take this seriously, and have advised me to do likewise. One of them is a survivalist who happens to be an expert in emergency medicine. Are they panicked over it? No, nor am I - but it is one contingency among many that it would be prudent to prepare for.
Ah but I was in mainland China, in summertime. Before we were allowed off the plane, “health officers” in plastic booties, gloves, masks and goggles used an IR thermometer on each of us, and there were at least six who did not pass the test. They stayed on the plane and we left.
When exiting the plane, there were two thermal cameras with calibration blackbodies, scanning us again. Another set at Customs, where there were other scanners, possibly face recognition scanners. The customs guy I was interviewed by was very interested in my health, how I felt, how I had felt last week, too, and watched my face the whole time.
There was an aerosol monitor of some sort running there too.
So they checked our body temp several times and possibly sniffed us for bugs with the air sampler, at the airport. When we got bussed to the hotel, we were warned about H1N1 and other airborne diseases and given a lecture on handwashing, and hand sanitizers, on the bus. We were given masks and urged to wear them, but this was not pushed hard.
At the hotel there was ANOTHER thermal camera at the front door, with a sign that said if the alarm went off, stand there and someone would come along to take us to the clinic “for help”, yeah right.
A simpler IR thermometer at checkin.
Every room had detailed descriptions of precautions. And, on TV one morning, a kids cartoon about, you guessed it, H1N1 and how to avoid it. There were signs in the street in English and Chinese about H1N1, and posters in every store I went in. It got boring then weird. All of the signage in my room and on the street had a phone number to call if I thought I might be coming down with something, along with the promise that I’d be taken to a clinic right away once I called.
It was very common to see Chinese with masks on, on the street and behind counters in stores. Anyone handling money wore plastic or rubber gloves (blue was a popular color).
So at least in Beijing, Souzhou, Xi’an and several smaller cities, the Chinese actually went way beyond what we did in the States. And yes, they were spared serious problems.
Coming into the USA, there was none of that nonsense, get off the plane, through customs, and out into the world. The talking heads on TV mention it lightly, and nobody seems to really take it seriously, compared to China.
ping
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