Who cares about swine flu?

[Andrew Gubb]

I mean really? Who cares?

I could go on to tell you how all this hype and fear is just waste of energy and a manipulation of the masses. But I won't because it doesn't even deserve that.

Slap some cold water on your face and ask the mirror, "How has my life really come to the point where I have so little of interest to care about that I can give a damn about swine flu?" Whatever answers come to you, act on them and start changing your life. You have a long road ahead of you, and it won't be easy, but it'll be worth it. The first step to solving a problem is realising the problem exists in the first place.

[gigij]

Well I just decided that I wasn't going to get it and that was the end of that. Haven't thought about it since.

[aggie]

there is some valid need for concern for medical reasons for certain individual ie pregnant women and children. but i do agree sometimes how the media presents something in this country can create unessessary panic instead of explaining the facts to people, the precautions and the solutions available.

[ar81]

Someone posted this documentary called "operation: pandemics".
Unfortunately it is in spanish.

YouTube - Operación Pandemia

It denounces the interests of some pharmaceutical industry to make money using fear. It also compares figures of diseases that cause more deaths than swine flu and are not getting attention form media.

Wash your hands and follow coughing and sneezing protocols, and make others to do so, and you'd be fine.

[rei]

i could care less about it. i am tired of the scare tactics... i have a friend on another forum who is obsessing about it, how it will become an excuse to declare martial law... he is not from the U.S. but is fixated on this in a way that does not seem logical to me. not sure he is remembering about LoA - how it is best to focus on what we actually do want to happen, hm?

plus even from a less metaphysical perspective, the media is definitely being hyperbolic about this issue. according to this link (source is WHO-confirmed cases) it only has a lethality rate of 1.98 percent: Chart: 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Lethality Rate: 1.98 Percent | GCCapitalIdeas.com

and when i searched about the lethality a few weeks ago (to prove to my friend he was being obsessive without a clear grasp of the facts), i did come across a story about how the lethality is expected to increase. BUT if you read this story (linked below) closely, the people making this claim stand to make a profit from selling vaccines. appalling if you ask me. and i do my best to avoid listening if the source of a claim has conflicted interests, as they certainly do.
Chart: 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Lethality Rate: 1.98 Percent | GCCapitalIdeas.com

so - i did put a bit of effort into this (by effort i mean a single Google search), but only because my friend was buying into an underground version of the same scare tactics pushed by mainstream media. my interest was more about sharing a rational perspective on it, less about the issue itself.

[Brutha]

plus even from a less metaphysical perspective, the media is definitely being hyperbolic about this issue. according to this link (source is WHO-confirmed cases) it only has a lethality rate of 1.98 percent: Chart: 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Lethality Rate: 1.98 Percent | GCCapitalIdeas.com

A lethality rate of two percent is pretty high for someone that spreads like flu.
1 billion infected people times two percent would equal 20 million deaths.

[MartialDev]

Originally Posted by rei

i could care less about it. i am tired of the scare tactics... i have a friend on another forum who is obsessing about it, how it will become an excuse to declare martial law... he is not from the U.S. but is fixated on this in a way that does not seem logical to me.

See The Jane Burgermeister website - investigating the swine flu*pandemic and you will understand his concern.

[rei]

Originally Posted by Brutha

A lethality rate of two percent is pretty high for someone that spreads like flu.
1 billion infected people times two percent would equal 20 million deaths.

i don't think i agree. people can use statistics to present things as seeming better or worse. since you chose a high number then yeah it does sound higher. but you can look at it another way: if a single person contracts it, that single person has about a 2% chance of dying from it. most confirmed cases involve compromised immunity which is fairly unusual.

in my opinion, the circumstances of our death are planned ahead of time before we are born so why worry? just pay attention to what you're doing and accept that our destiny overpowers our free will in that particular situation. that's my opinion anyway.

[rei]

Originally Posted by MartialDev

See The Jane Burgermeister website - investigating the swine flu*pandemic and you will understand his concern.

yeah i have already heard the argument expressed on that website. again, in my opinion, this is another version of the scare tactics promoted by the mainstream media. there is enough fear already so why not choose to promote something else? that's how i see it, after having heard the argument for alarm.

if enough people work with the LoA to focus their attention and intentions on what they actually want instead of focusing on what they don't want, then those worst-case scenario things will dissolve from the collective consciousness. i don't have the intention of changing your mind MartialDev, just sharing my own opinion on this stuff.

[Andrew Gubb]

Originally Posted by rei

i don't think i agree. people can use statistics to present things as seeming better or worse. since you chose a high number then yeah it does sound higher. but you can look at it another way: if a single person contracts it, that single person has about a 2% chance of dying from it. most confirmed cases involve compromised immunity which is fairly unusual.

in my opinion, the circumstances of our death are planned ahead of time before we are born so why worry? just pay attention to what you're doing and accept that our destiny overpowers our free will in that particular situation. that's my opinion anyway.

Good point of view.

To get some perspective, we could also compare 20 million deaths to the amount of people who die of things like flu or slipping on icy pavements every year. I can't be too bothered to make a comparative analysis, but I guarantee if you did you'd see swine flu is pretty small. Newsflash: lots of people die all the time. It's not even that bad, they cross over, have a life review, and think about how they could have spent less time watching TV

It's like terrorism. The amount of panic that goes into "protecting" people from it when the annual deaths by coconut falling on the head while sleeping under a palm tree is more significant.

[ar81]

More people die of heart attacks than becuase of terror.
It means a fatty hamburger, a stressful job, are more likely to kill you.

The video talks about scare tactics and shows a lot of stats on health, regarding the swine flu and other diseases.

[Brutha]

i don't think i agree. people can use statistics to present things as seeming better or worse. since you chose a high number then yeah it does sound higher. but you can look at it another way: if a single person contracts it, that single person has about a 2% chance of dying from it. most confirmed cases involve compromised immunity which is fairly unusual.

I don't use a high number.
The high number that's used in the media is 3 billion. 2 percent would be really high, if it would be true (and the present estimate happens to be much lower).
Saying that 2 percent is low however demonstrates a lack of perspective and biased judgement.
The Spanish flu in 1918 had something like a 2.5% death rate.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by rei

i could care less about it. i am tired of the scare tactics... i have a friend on another forum who is obsessing about it, how it will become an excuse to declare martial law... he is not from the U.S. but is fixated on this in a way that does not seem logical to me. not sure he is remembering about LoA - how it is best to focus on what we actually do want to happen, hm?

plus even from a less metaphysical perspective, the media is definitely being hyperbolic about this issue. according to this link (source is WHO-confirmed cases) it only has a lethality rate of 1.98 percent: Chart: 2009 H1N1 Swine Flu Lethality Rate: 1.98 Percent | GCCapitalIdeas.com

There's something very wrong with those numbers. The chart says as of May 2009, 1,516 cases were confirmed globally by the World Health Organization (WHO), with 30 fatalities. But -- Wisconsin alone had 2200 confirmed cases as of June, and over 4600 confirmed cases by the end of August. And 8 fatalities.

[Barcs]

I agree with the OP. Swine Flu is the most overhyped disease ever imagined. There must be something else going on, distracting us. Overall the fatality numbers are very low compared to other deadly diseases.

[SomeRandomGuy]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

There's something very wrong with those numbers. The chart says as of May 2009, 1,516 cases were confirmed globally by the World Health Organization (WHO), with 30 fatalities. But -- Wisconsin alone had 2200 confirmed cases as of June, and over 4600 confirmed cases by the end of August. And 8 fatalities.

What is being counted as a confirmed case in Wisconsin? I know that I recently heard an interview with a doctor on NPR (can't remember where he was from) in which he stated that they just assume that anyone testing positive for Influenza A has the swine flu. Here in Kentucky I've also heard officials saying that if you get the flu, you should assume it is the swine flu, since that is what is "going around". I wonder if the Wisconsin numbers could be cases assumed to be Swine Flu, whereas the WHO numbers are only those confirmed through testing?

[rei]

Originally Posted by SomeRandomGuy

What is being counted as a confirmed case in Wisconsin? I know that I recently heard an interview with a doctor on NPR (can't remember where he was from) in which he stated that they just assume that anyone testing positive for Influenza A has the swine flu. Here in Kentucky I've also heard officials saying that if you get the flu, you should assume it is the swine flu, since that is what is "going around". I wonder if the Wisconsin numbers could be cases assumed to be Swine Flu, whereas the WHO numbers are only those confirmed through testing?

i agree the Wisconsin numbers seem off, but if they are accurate in a way it's a good thing. why? because i did the math, and based on those figures, this flu now has a lethality rate of .174%, less than a 1% chance of doing anything more than giving people a couple of uncomfortable days home from work or school. of course i don't mean to minimize the pain that the families of those 8 people are going through. but i do think this whole situation is being exaggerated and feeding into conspiracy theories (which i used to follow myself, now i see how going to the worst-case scenarios is another form of fear-mongering in my view, though i do still pay attention for reasonable connections).

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by SomeRandomGuy

What is being counted as a confirmed case in Wisconsin? I know that I recently heard an interview with a doctor on NPR (can't remember where he was from) in which he stated that they just assume that anyone testing positive for Influenza A has the swine flu. Here in Kentucky I've also heard officials saying that if you get the flu, you should assume it is the swine flu, since that is what is "going around". I wonder if the Wisconsin numbers could be cases assumed to be Swine Flu, whereas the WHO numbers are only those confirmed through testing?

The government website says these are laboratory-confirmed cases. And those figures sound much more accurate than those in that chart which shows 2 percent fatalities. Two percent fatal cases is HUGE.

[TheColonel]

According to the CDC, the current death rate as of Sept 5, 2009 is .6%.

That's LESS than one percent.

Here is a link from Mercola with tons of CDC data, and fairly neutral analysis of that data: Mercola Swine Flu

I live in KY too. My sheeplike, koolaid-drinking ex-wife and I took my 4.5 year old son to get his annual flu shot yesterday. Because she won't listen to me or consider any information that isn't mainstream, I asked the doctor if he thought Swine flu was being over-hyped. He did.

I pressed on. "How many deaths have there been in KY...total?"

He said "3. Two elderly people with other health problems and one infant with other health problems."

"Is it a more severe sickness than other flus?" I asked.

"No, not really." He replied.

My ex had to interject a couple of things she heard from Matt Lauer, her most trusted source of information.

Sensing the conflict between she and I, the good doctor mumbled something and quickly excused himself.

My concern, if you read that Mercola article, is that not all flu shots are created equal. And occasionally, you or your kid may get one that was made on a Friday. That would suck.

[TheColonel]

By the way, that .6% for those who don't know - is the total number of folks who catch the disease and die from it.

NOT .6% of the population.

[amj]

Last year I might have had swine flue. I just know that I had the flu really bad. I didn't go to the doctor so I don't know if I had it or not. Regardless, I lived and I don't believe the world will catch swine flu and die off. Don't be so naive as to believe in the media. They will say anything to justify giving you a shot that will keep you "healthy." What is in the shot??? who knows.

[blossom]

What's in the shots indeed? Maybe, and this is of course just speculation, but maybe they intend to inject us all with tiny microchips which will keep track of everyone for this aerial surveillance that is happening right now...and causing major privacy issues in the states. They know there are lots of sceptical people who do not agree with what they are doing, but if they sneak the chip into everyones system, via the flu vaccine to "help" us all...well we'd be none the wiser would we? Just a thought...

[Lil Chris]

There's also been some chatter of forced inoculations too (nurses being forced to get it or lose their jobs, some companies trying to enforce this as well, etc...). This is cause for concern IMHO.

[blossom]

I work at a sexual health clinic, and there has been talk of the same thing...though I don't know that it's forced? Most of the doctors and microbiologists there don't believe in any of this though , they are all for inoculations so I might have to be sick that day