I'm not concerned about swine flu..are you?

It seems to me as long as everyone uses some common sense regarding swine flu there shouldn't be such a big panic over it. Don't go out if your sick, wash your hands often, watch out for people who are sneezing, and if you feel like you may have the flu go to your physician and get checked. Most important of all, be sure you get accurate information regarding this flu. The best place to get your info is directly from the CDC or WHO. I've added the link for the CDC in my sidebar so you can easily check for the latest information. 

If you do your research you would find that most of the deaths from the swine flu In Mexico were due to inadequate health care. Most likely if they had gotten medical attention as soon as they got sick they might have survived it. There are many confirmed cases in the United States with only one death and that was a small child (23 months). 

I think what most people don't take into consideration is the fact that for the most part the swine flu cases in the United States have been mild and most are just simply getting the antiviral and recuperating at home. As was reported on CNN by Jack Cafferty   http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/30/has-swine-flu-story-been-overblown/, there are more deaths each year from the seasonal flu than from our current situation with this swine flu. You don't see the same panic or threat levels for the seasonal flu. With so many deaths every year, why not? In either case if everyone just follows the simple rules for hygiene, that can solve a lot of it. 

I do have one other solution that can help slow down the spread of flu's and colds. It's also a simple one. It's been suggested that if your sick, stay home. Don't go to school or work. As for school that's a more simple solution, but as for staying home from work, that can be a bit more difficult. In some cases It's more difficult to do this for two reasons. 

1. Not all people can afford to stay home. Many have no sick days so if they don't go to work they don't get paid and that can make It impossible to pay bills.
2. In many jobs these days, if you don't show up for work (sick or not) you either get a write up (which goes on your employee record) or you simply get fired for not showing up.

With the job market as it is today, who out there can afford to lose their job? For those reasons they go to work when their sick and it just spreads from employee to employee. So when it's recommended that people stay home when there sick, these things also have to be considered. Employers need to be more willing to work with those who are ill and would be better off at home rather that at work spreading the flu to everyone else. That of course is for another blog. Something really should be done about that.

Anyway, I definitely feel this whole swine flu thing has been blown way out of proportion. Just follow the CDC recommendations and all will be well soon enough. What do you think?