Red Alert

Here we have the origins of the Swine Flu's entry into the US. If you're concerned you have Swine Flu, you can check at Do I have swine flu?
Now that I have that out of the way, may I say that I think this is all a bunch of hooey? Well, I think officials are blowing this way out of proportion. So, does at least one doctor. According to an AP article, every year dozens of U.S. children die from seasonal flu; so far this season, 55 children have died from regular flu, federal health authorities report. Ok, that is tragic, but we don't see schools and youth sports organizations shutting down in February and March. While children, especially those younger than 5, are known to be most vulnerable to severe and fatal complications from seasonal flu, most children who get even the most aggressive strains of flu don't die. So far, flu experts say there's no reason to think the new strain will be much different.

"Nobody should be unduly worried; everybody should be aware of what's going on and doing things they should be doing in flu season anyway," said Dr. Mark Dworkin, an infectious disease specialist at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Another quote from the same article:
Dr. Kathryn Edwards, a Vanderbilt University flu specialist, said there's no reason to keep healthy children home or restrict their activities. "We need to respond to the swine flu just the way that we respond to seasonal flu," Edwards said.

Ok, I'll rant for a few moments. Yes, I do think this is blown out of proportion. I love the comments on my FaceBook page:

V the K at 6:57pm April 30
I asked my son about Swine Flu, and he said, "Meh, it will just cull the weak."

JDP at 7:03pm April 30
I thought it was a bunch of hype until I just talked with my sister. She is a np and they had a big meeting today at work and I guess the swine flu is resistent to several anti-viral meds. I told her that the news here has been telling us that tamiflu works but what the CDC sent them says otherwise. Lovely.

BT at 9:01pm April 30
God I wish Hannah Montana would "accidentally" expose a tit so that the media would find something else to obsess over.

El Capitan at 10:02pm April 30
It's the lawyers. They're terrified of getting sued by hysterical parents if someone's Precious Snowflake catches a sniffle at their school. It's just like their asinine Zero Tolerance rules. No accounting for circumstance or reason, just go for the extreme solution.

Now, I've been getting more and more irritated as area school districts have completely shut down. Fort Worth ISD (with its 80,000 students) shut down till May 11. So, what do you think is going to happen? Those kids are going to head to the mall, the movies, Chuck E. Cheese, etc. Or they're going to hang out at each other's houses. Duh. At best, many parents will have to lay off work and lose two weeks of pay. At worst, kids will be unsupervised at home. Lots of poor kids who only get a hot nutritious meal at school may go hungry. This is going to trickle down and impact our economy, too.

Our local youth soccer and baseball associations have shut down till May 11, too. The school district has suspended all activities till that magical date, too. Proms, track meets, etc have all been cancelled altogether or rescheduled. My nephew who was going to run in a regional track meet is now SOL and that is really sad. Events like MayFest in Fort Worth was already set up and ready to go, then was shut down. That is a big loss of money to those organizers, vendors who paid for booth space, etc. I could go on and on. The people who officiate these sporting events as well as people who make their money at various events like MayFest will all be hurting.

A friend of a friend on FaceBook left this comment on a thread about the swine flu hysteria and my ranting about why is May 11 such a magical date for activities to resume:
On May 11 the US Air Force will drop gallons upon gallons of anti-bacterial sanitizer upon us. It will also turn those who have Swine Flu green with purple polka dots so that the government can easily spot them and quarantine them to a pig farm. It will also kill all media personnel.

Wow. I like the way she thinks.

For actual links that are beneficial:
Centers for Disease Control: The Dangers of Flu to Children
World Health Organization - which has many links to swine flu info