Get off the streets! Wear a mask ! Fear thy neighbour! It’s a pandemic!
The World Health Organization announced yesterday the Swine flu is at a pandemic alert level of 5 out of 6. This means at least two countries had cases of human-to-human contact. A full blown pandemic is imminent according to the WHO.So what does this mean for the average person? Well it appears to me that these warnings are there to both get all governments on board with taking precautions and to scare the crap out of individuals so everyone takes precautions.
Is panic really the best way to go about containment? Now, with the exception of Mexico, the world is full of leaders telling people not to live in fear, whereas the opposite message is coming out of the WHO. US VP Joe Biden further gave mixed signals by saying that he is telling his children to avoid public transit and air travel on NBC’s today show.
Now I feel it is my responsibility as a concerned Canadian citizen to remain calm and treat those with a cough as a leper.
I remember these mixed signals with SARS. Living in Toronto, I was on the tail end of the full blown scare. Tourism died, but on the upside I went to the kick-ass Rolling Stones concert ‘SARS stock’– as it was informally dubbed.
Fear, though effective in providing a stern warning, doesn’t really help us out as a community. If the economy isn’t struggling enough already, we should now board up our windows and sit with a loaded shotgun in the basement? There must be a better way.
Not being a doctor or a pandemic historian, I realize that certain excessive precautions may be taken.
What seems like overkill may be necessary.
I’ll do my best to take the recommended precautions, but I can’t put my life on hold for something I can’t control. This is a time when we need to solve the problem as a global community. Instating a ‘fear’ policy may weaken our ability to act together.
I’m reserving my tickets for yet to be created ’Swine fest’ concert.
No comments:
Post a Comment