Joe Quinn
Just in case anyone doesn't understand why you can, or should, be skeptical about the severity of the alleged threat from the corona virus.
As it played out between early 2009 and late 2010, the 'swine flu' pandemic is estimated to have infected up to 1.4 billion people around the world and killed anywhere between 150,000 and 575,000 ('the flu' is almost never recorded as the cause of death on certificates). While many governments did, at the time, talk up the threat from that virus, there was nothing like the level of hysteria that we are seeing today in relation to 'corona virus'. Today, many political leaders are talking in overwrought, impassioned terms about the corona virus that are completely disconnected from the actual infection rates and fatalities it has caused.
Consider UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement today that this is "the worst public health crisis for a generation" and that "this disease is more dangerous and it's going to spread further ... more families are going to lose loved ones before their time."
As it played out between early 2009 and late 2010, the 'swine flu' pandemic is estimated to have infected up to 1.4 billion people around the world and killed anywhere between 150,000 and 575,000 ('the flu' is almost never recorded as the cause of death on certificates). While many governments did, at the time, talk up the threat from that virus, there was nothing like the level of hysteria that we are seeing today in relation to 'corona virus'. Today, many political leaders are talking in overwrought, impassioned terms about the corona virus that are completely disconnected from the actual infection rates and fatalities it has caused.
Consider UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement today that this is "the worst public health crisis for a generation" and that "this disease is more dangerous and it's going to spread further ... more families are going to lose loved ones before their time."
Johnson's statement is patently false. The corona virus is NOT, as of now, "the worst public health crisis for a generation". There have been a total of two, yes, TWO, deaths from the virus in the UK (with 116 people infected). By July 2009 (after which routine testing was discontinued) there were more than 24,000 laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu in England and Scotland and 392 deaths. Just a few months previously, the British government claimed that 65,000 people could die.
Yes, it is likely that more British people (the elderly and those with underlying health issues) will succumb to the corona virus, but many more will die as an indirect result of the seasonal flu. Why is the seasonal flu not being characterized as the "worst health crisis in a generation"? Is it simply because it happens every year? Or is it because there is already a well-oiled system providing big-pharma produced flu shots that are given to 1.5 million Britons every year? While Johnson's comments could be construed as 'responsible leadership', they are in fact highly irresponsible, and most likely the product of cynicism and opportunism.
Yes, it is likely that more British people (the elderly and those with underlying health issues) will succumb to the corona virus, but many more will die as an indirect result of the seasonal flu. Why is the seasonal flu not being characterized as the "worst health crisis in a generation"? Is it simply because it happens every year? Or is it because there is already a well-oiled system providing big-pharma produced flu shots that are given to 1.5 million Britons every year? While Johnson's comments could be construed as 'responsible leadership', they are in fact highly irresponsible, and most likely the product of cynicism and opportunism.
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