Swine flu and CP

Just saw Six Flag's Mexico had to close down everything basically "inside". Shows, etc......

How many of you are going to be hanging all over the handrails this summer?

I fear swine flu less than I fear winning the lottery.

No need to fear something that wouldn't be that big of a deal if it was not for the media.

Swine flue is like that brand new song on the pop station..... overplayed.

I have to agree with Walt and Kyurthich here. Swine flu is a flu that is really not any differant than the regular flu. Basically all they need to do is make enough vaccine to get rid of what is currently out there and we will never hear of it again. From what I have heard it is not even close to as bad as bird flu.

The only reason why people are freaking out is because of the media.

Ryan

Bird flu never made the jump to humans.

And "regular" flu kills more people than the Swine variant. If you're alarmed, you probably deserve to be.

I'm so sick of hearing about it, to be honest.

It's just sweeps month and the news freaks people into boosting rateings

djDaemon said:
And "regular" flu kills more people than the Swine variant. If you're alarmed, you probably deserve to be.

True, but its mostly the very old and very young that have problems with the regular flu. Swine flu seems to have no problem with healthy adults though. And the people who have died are people who didn't treat it or seek treatment until it was too late, the same thing would cause problems with the normal flu.

I agree its a problem with the media and is way over blown. Its actually not that unusual for a school or even school system to close due to illness, even for a few days or a week. It happens several times a year all over the country.

It really annoys me when people blame "the media" for everything. As I'm fond of saying, if you find "the media" is going overboard, you're consuming the wrong media. Furthermore, those that do go overboard get away with it because the idiot public wants it.

Interestingly enough, it's not the top story on ABCnews' Web site, but it is on the BBC and al Jazeera. I'd expect the opposite.

Should the national media care that ONE school system in Texas has closed for a few days due to illness?

Or that Alabama is putting off its HS state finals for a week?

Its not anything that needs to be national news. Local? Sure. But this is like the bird flu, and SARS before that. The media is jumping on it because its a flashy thing to throw out there. When hospitals get over-run and there are people dying in the streets, THEN it will be a story.

Now, all that said, do I think it is solely the media's fault? No. The public is feeding this just as much, and Biden's comments didn't help much either. The public loves a good "outbreak". The media reports on a story, the public runs with it and stokes the fires and the media is left with a bigger story to report.

Any way you want to look at it will it affect my trips to Cedar Point and Kings Island this year?

A resounding NO! I'm not going to start to get worried about it until I really have to.

Ryan

Texas actually stopped all school athletic programs.

Jeff, honestly you believe that the "media" is not making a bigger deal out of this then they should. Millions of people get the "normal" flu every year and a few 100 people die because they did not get it taken care of. Just because a couple people have died (once again because they did not have it taken care of) media is making a frenzy out of it. Give me a break!

I was just seeing if anyone here thought CP should be doing anything to be a little extra sanitary.

Wiping rides down more or less....

I bring this up because I have gotten sick after visiting CP more than once. And I can only blame it on touching the same crap 30,000 other people touch every day.

To play devil's advocate...

When was the last time the flu caused the WHO to raise the pandemic alert level to 5? Never. In fact, this is the first time it has ever been that high.

When was the last time the flu closed hundreds of schools across the country? We're talking 300 or more districts here, not just one or two in Texas.

Mexico is all but shutdown to try and prevent more spread of the flu. Mexico is about a month into this thing and have reported a bunch of deaths. The U.S. and the rest of the world are only a few days into it.

It certainly isn't a good idea to panic, but taking some precautions (staying at home if you are sick, washing your hands, covering your mouth when you sneeze) goes a long way.

IAAPA has issued an alert: http://www.iaapa.org/safety/influenza.asp

Wash your hands before you eat and don't bite your fingernails. Heck, stopping at the bathrooms when you pass just for the sanitizer probably isn't a bad idea either. If you're that worried about it. Going straight from Ski-ball to the pretzel stand is probably a bad idea regardless of what this years designer illness is.

What YeeHaw said. I'm glad someone gets it.

Like I said, you choose what media you watch, and remember that all "media" is not "news media." I watched World News Tonight last night and they had their staff doctor on saying that schools were over-reacting where there were no reported cases and that Biden went off message. They also led with the Chrysler story. That doesn't strike me as a lack of restraint.

Blame yourselves. You're the ones watching/reading the so-called "over hyped media."

I'll have to agree with Jeff on the media issue. Usually, when people pull out their "the media" card, it's because they don't have any solid sources to back up where their information came from. or who they are blaming, so they just generalize.

What I don't get is these radio hosts who claim to represent a large portion of political believers, who cite "the media" as the problem. You're on the radio/TV, does that not make you part of the media, hence part of the supposed "problem"?

YeeHaw said:
To play devil's advocate...

The unprecedented WHO response, school closings, etc. are only valid indicators of severity if they are not themselves overreactions. The Director-General of WHO said that "all of humanity" was under threat from swine flu. I don't purport to have more medical knowledge than Dr. Chan, but that was an absurd statement.

There have been many similar "outbreaks" over the years (SARS, bird flu, even swine flu). In those other cases, the responses were proportional and reasonable. I can't remember this kind of panic-inducing response before, even though there appears to be no reason for it. To its credit, the CDC, for the most part, has had a reasonable response. Joe Biden, though, has not.

Every time a new infection is found, a local health board holds a news conference. Really? It's like swine flu is one of those bioweapons on 24 that kill entire towns within hours.

What should people do? The same thing they do to protect themselves from "normal" flu. (Hint: it's not buying every surgical mask you can find.)

Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild