Swine Flu Scare Tactic

Swine flu is considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization and “the spread of the virus worldwide is now unstoppable”. With the estimated 2010 United States death toll could be 90,000 and Bloomberg reporting that “The H1N1 strain is genetically related to the 1918 Spanish Flu strain that killed an estimated 50 million people”, I think I’m heading for my underground bunker to wait out flu season.

Well, maybe not. Not because I literally don’t have an underground bunker but because I think the swine flu, in its current form, is a scare tactic. Not that I’m a scientifically inclined but I’m pretty sure I would have figured out that H1N1 Influenza is somehow genetically related Spanish Influenza and when the swine flu deaths of just over 1,000 gets closer to the 50,000,000 toll the Spanish flu killed, then make a comparison.

In a normal year Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 36,000 people die every year from Influenza. Let’s just say that WHO actually got their prediction of 90,000 deaths right. This would mean a two and a half times increase over the normal Influenza death toll but still only 14% of what heart disease kills; I personally would be more worried about eating all of those Big Macs and double Whoppers before the swine flu.

Even if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones who contracts swine flu there is only a 0.69% death rate in the United States. I am not saying H1N1 is not an issue to deal with but I am saying it is blown out of proportion and I personally think it is being used as a scare tactic to pass a socialized health care plan.