As of Saturday, the H1N1 (or
swine flu) virus has officially been declared a
national emergency by President Obama. This is due a rapid increase in cases across the country. The declaration allows Health and Human Services to aid local health care facilities that would otherwise be unable to deal with the pandemic themselves. Some people, however, seem to be slightly skeptical of the action. One administration official called Obama's action a "proactive measure that's not in response to any new development." According to CNN, since April, when the pandemic first hit, there have been millions of cases, at least 20,000 people have been hospitalized, and more than 1,000 have died, and it is continuing to spread. 46 states have reported widespread flu transmission; this would not be unusual except that it is extremely rare for the flu season to peak so early.
People lined up to wait for their vaccine
I understand that for the elderly and the young, especially, the virus can be deadly, but for the majority of the population, the swine flu is just a longer, harder version of the flu. So I start to wonder why this has been declared a national emergency. It seems to me like everything has been hyped up by the media to make it seem worse than it actually is, and I wonder why.
Does the media want people to think that it that much worse or do they honestly believe that the swine flu is so severe? And why might they want to think this pandemic is a bad as they are making it sound?
I would have believed that last spring when swine first appeared. But if you have any medical condition now, it can be very difficult to overcome the flu and it can be fatal. Yes for most of us its just a worse flu and because of that I agree with you Quincy. But it got worse from last spring, what's to say that another strand doesn't start coming up, a worse one. Also after hearing about a school (I can't remember the name) somewhere in western IL where out of 2,000 about 900 went home sick with the flu and they had to shut down for a week some might get uneasy. I think its good that everyone be able to get the shot and even if its jumping the gun, its better to be safe then sorry.
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