How Deadly Is Swine Flu?
The swine flu has shown signs of mutation and is more deadly than the CDC originally made it out to be. It is killing people within 24 to 48 hours of contracting the virus and has been known to kill within 9 hours of onset of symptoms. That’s even faster than something like Cholera, which is a terrible disease.
According to a CDC report from July, the fatality rate for the flu is upwards of 2% across all age groups. This is significantly higher than the number they are touting to the public and as high as the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 50 million people worldwide.
The CDC has touted that the swine flu has only killed 4,000 people worldwide and only 700 in the United States, which isn’t comparable to the 36,000 yearly deaths of seasonal flu. What they don’t tell you, however, is that the 36,000 deaths aren’t actually counted deaths and are just an estimate. Flu only shows up 3,600 times a year on birth certificates, which is how they’re counting the swine flu. That means the swine flu has caused 15% of the deaths that seasonal flu causes in just the summer, when no one ever dies from the flu.
So what should I do to prepare?
Well, it really depends on what happens. If people start realizing how severe the pandemic is, then they’ll likely panic. There could be forced quarantines and movement restrictions, as well as destruction of property. (There has been legislation put in place for this). Currently, the CDC is pushing to keep the schools open, but that won’t last forever. There will be a huge peak in October, that’ll force most of the schools to close.
In order to protect your family, you’ll need to store enough food to last at least 3 weeks. This includes water. I don’t think that utilities will go down, but it’s definitely possible. You’ll also want to get the vaccination as soon as possible, especially if you’re in a high risk group. Unfortunately, the vaccine will arrive much too late, but you should still get it if you can.
I also recommend that you get the seasonal flu vaccine. It likes to co-infect with H1N1, which makes the fatality rate much higher. The pneumonia vaccine has also shown to help protect against swine flu and may reduce your chance of dying by as much as 50%.
Most of all, you have to watch the news and stay prepared. If you think that it’s getting especially bad in your area, then pull your kid out of school for a week or two while it blows over. This pandemic will likely not kill you, but it will kill a lot of people. With a fatality rate of 2%, you might not even know anyone that dies, but a lot of people will know others that did. If this fatality rate is correct, then over a million people may die in the US.
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