Well, so now we have a fun little flu bug for the media to hawk like its the coming of the anti-christ.
Its a times like this I remember the words of Bugs Bunny:
"When you are nervous or in doubt,
Run in panic Scream and Shout!"
People, just because the media knows scaring you to death sells ad space does NOT mean its anything to panic about. A few statistics to consider:
The number of deaths by Swine Flu this month: One.
The average number of auto fatalities a month in 2008: 3109
So, were you to get in your car once a month and drive to the doctor to be checked for Swine flu, you would be about 3,000 times more likely to die getting there then to die of the disease.
Should you be taking reasonable sanitary precautions? Sure, you should *always* be taking reasonable sanitary precautions. After you play with your pets, wash your hands. Its never a bad idea. Covering your mouth, if you can, when you cough is always nice to others.
But realize we live in a bacterial stew everyday of our lives, and all evidence indicates that a certain amount of germ exposure is good for us.
So if someone suddenly sneezes on you, or doesnt have a chance to cover their mouth when they cough, before you go off on them, consider the effect that your haranguing them now may have on their concentration in the parking lot- where they are doing something that CAN kill you. Driving their car.
And remember. Something isn't magically more dangerous just because you heard about it 5 times on the news today. One case is still just one case, no matter how many times the media tells you about it.
Its a times like this I remember the words of Bugs Bunny:
"When you are nervous or in doubt,
Run in panic Scream and Shout!"
People, just because the media knows scaring you to death sells ad space does NOT mean its anything to panic about. A few statistics to consider:
The number of deaths by Swine Flu this month: One.
The average number of auto fatalities a month in 2008: 3109
So, were you to get in your car once a month and drive to the doctor to be checked for Swine flu, you would be about 3,000 times more likely to die getting there then to die of the disease.
Should you be taking reasonable sanitary precautions? Sure, you should *always* be taking reasonable sanitary precautions. After you play with your pets, wash your hands. Its never a bad idea. Covering your mouth, if you can, when you cough is always nice to others.
But realize we live in a bacterial stew everyday of our lives, and all evidence indicates that a certain amount of germ exposure is good for us.
So if someone suddenly sneezes on you, or doesnt have a chance to cover their mouth when they cough, before you go off on them, consider the effect that your haranguing them now may have on their concentration in the parking lot- where they are doing something that CAN kill you. Driving their car.
And remember. Something isn't magically more dangerous just because you heard about it 5 times on the news today. One case is still just one case, no matter how many times the media tells you about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment