Happy November! Here, in southeast PA, it's a mean, raw & miserable day. A day to stay bundled up & inside as much as possible, hopefully with a hot mug of something wonderful.
It feels like the start of flu season. Wait - it is!
Over the past months, fear of Ebola has gripped our country, infecting it with fear of a terrible disease that has killed thousands in Africa. Most people I talk to tend to think of Ebola as a potential pandemic that appeared as suddenly & inexplicably as the Great Flu of 1918.
Small wonder - that's the message they're getting from the news channels, programs that score viewership by being as sensational as possible. Just not very accurate.
Ebola is far from new, far from unknown. Even now, with its most virulent outbreak still ongoing, the number of people in West Africa with Ebola is 13,567, with the number of fatalities currently pushing 5,000. That's a lot of people, almost one out of every 3 infected, but it is NOT the certain death sentence - not even in West Africa - that AIDS was in the 1970s.
How many Americans have died of Ebola? One.
Have to wonder how many of the people gripped with fear that Ebola threatens the USA have a clue that 48,614 Americans died in 2003-4, killed by a virulent disease that seemed to stake out the very young, the very old, and pregnant women.
48,614 Americans - all killed, over six months, by the flu.
That number - just 10 years ago - is the highest number of deaths over the past 31 flu seasons. But you have to reach back to 1986-7 to find the lowest number of recorded flu-related deaths ~ 3,349.
Imagine if a news network got hold of a statistic that showed a disease that killed less than 3,500 over 25 years ago soared to almost 50,000 Americans eleven years ago? Well, they know it. But Ebola sounds so much more news worthy than flu.
Oh, they've run shows spotlighting the need for flu shots, but those aren't the ones registering. Not when you have national stage politicians warning about Ebola coming across the borders, aimed at killing Americans. Fear mongering drowns out sound advice aimed at saving American lives. Scott Brown, Ted Cruz, especially Rand Paul - how about making public service announcements urging Americans of every age & race to get their flu shots?!
In a perfect world, politicians & public officials & all thought leaders out there, from city council to the president & every type of folks with influence, would USE their bully pulpits, large or small, to urge Americans to get their flu shots & remind them of the precautions that guard against cold weather maladies that can kill.
So, let's team up Speaker Boehner & Senate Majority Leader Reid for a public service announcement (psa) about flu vaccines. Or George & Amal talking about a great way to start a new life together is to get flu shots. Picture a psa from Kate & William about getting the whole family inoculated (George & his pregnant Mum are at higher risk than his Dad). The ultimate - The Queen & Prince Phillip, who are in the most endangered age bracket, talking about doing their bit against the deadly foe that's flu!!!
Let's all of us put an end to fear mongering & do our bit to encourage everyone to take the simple, sane, responsible steps that each of us CAN do to help remove our self & others from harm's way. .
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