Hysteria
The H1N1 flu is a pandemic. It is being discussed everywhere and reported on every day in the media. I think the result has been an overall panic about the whole thing. I had H1N1 recently. It sucked. It laid me up for quite a while, about 2.5 weeks. But honestly, it was really just like any other flu-cold thing that lingered too long. I 'spose if you're a kid the swine flu is dangerous and you should panic.
To give myself a more balanced view on H1N1 I decided to check two things: the number of reported Canadian H1N1 deaths vs. the number of Canadian deaths due to traffic fatalities. Bear in mind I allowed myself around or about 10 minutes to do this research. My findings are a bit skewed, because the H1N1 data is for a 10 month period and the traffic fatality data is for a 12 month period (from 2006 no less). Anyhow, I'm assuming traffic fatalities are more or less the same today as they were three years ago.- Canadian H1N1 deaths to date: 115, that's about 11 a month so I 'spose we'll have roughly 137 H1N1 deaths in Canada this year. Source: Canadian Public Health Agency
- Annual Canadian traffic fatalities: will be aboot 2,889 . Source: Transport Canada
Hmmm all-right so how's your everyday normal hysteric Canadian 'sposed to react to this? Well I don't know 'boot you. But I'm going to immediately STOP going anywhere by car, bus, truck, van or taxi--unless I absolutely cannot avoid it. Only about 73 bicyclists are killed a year on Canadian roads. So I'm going to fix up a commuter rig with a bob trailer to run errands.
I'm really sorry to any of my clients who expect me to go to an office. Sorry, I simply cannot run the risk of exposing myselft to death on our roads--unless you want to tack on some danger pay to my normal consulting rates? Some follow up reading:- The culture of fear
- Merck Goes after Whistleblowers, Chills H1N1 Vaccine Objections? lots and lots of interesting looking links that I couldn't read in under 10 minutes.
