Why is there so much fear surrounding this disease?
In this world, we can't even distinguish between British Tornado jets and Iraqi Scuds with the most sophisticated radar equipment available (not to mention that one would hope that a few dollars of the Pentagon's quarter trillion dollar budget would be spent paying some guy to keep track of where allied planes were flying). We also have doctors giving patients the wrong organ transplants and courts executing people who are later found to be completeley innocent.
But at the same time, everyone I've talked to seems to think that it's perfectly likely that the governments of Canada, The United States, China, Singapore, etc. have magically been able to agree on the symptoms of this disease and train all of their doctors and, indeed, the average joe or jane on the street, to identify SARS. Not only that, but they've set up a wonderful system by which they have an accurate worldwide count of the number of people with the disease, where they are, which of them have died, and who they were in contact with. Yeah, right.
Officials at the CDC in the United States claim they're "not at that stage yet" when asked about quarantining SARS patients. Not at that stage yet? They're not at any stage yet. All of a dozen people in the entire country are likely to have it. This isn't a stage. It isn't a phase. It's nothing. Let's make a news story about the number of people who stub their toes on a leg of their kitchen table shooting up by 1.75%.
Assuming for a second that this international, worldwide SARS statistics reporting system is working correctly, the United States has only a handful of cases. Worldwide, 78 out of 2,220 people infected have died. How many millions have AIDS in Africa? And what about in the United States? The fact is that people know about AIDS, they know what causes it, they know how to prevent it. We're driven by our usual fear of the unknown, and the news media is milking that for everything it's worth.
Yes, I suppose if I worked in a hospital I'd probably be wearing a mask. Then again, if I worked in a hospital I'd probably be wearing a mask. It is a hospital after all. Sick people do visit hospitals from time to time. The evidence shows that SARS is spread only between family members and through other forms of close contact. Sure, there is that chance that you will run into someone infected with SARS roaming around the streets. (About a 0.00022% chance if we figure 2200 cases out of six billion people) and there is a chance that at that exact moment they will cough. And there is a chance that you will catch SARS from that cough. And yes, I would be very, very worried about that possibility.
I'm also very concerned that a major asteroid will destroy the city in which I'm currently living. As such I'm wearing a hard hat when I'm on the street from now on. Since a major asteroid hits the planet every 100,000 years or so, there's a chance one will land on me tomorrow.
In this world, we can't even distinguish between British Tornado jets and Iraqi Scuds with the most sophisticated radar equipment available (not to mention that one would hope that a few dollars of the Pentagon's quarter trillion dollar budget would be spent paying some guy to keep track of where allied planes were flying). We also have doctors giving patients the wrong organ transplants and courts executing people who are later found to be completeley innocent.
But at the same time, everyone I've talked to seems to think that it's perfectly likely that the governments of Canada, The United States, China, Singapore, etc. have magically been able to agree on the symptoms of this disease and train all of their doctors and, indeed, the average joe or jane on the street, to identify SARS. Not only that, but they've set up a wonderful system by which they have an accurate worldwide count of the number of people with the disease, where they are, which of them have died, and who they were in contact with. Yeah, right.
Officials at the CDC in the United States claim they're "not at that stage yet" when asked about quarantining SARS patients. Not at that stage yet? They're not at any stage yet. All of a dozen people in the entire country are likely to have it. This isn't a stage. It isn't a phase. It's nothing. Let's make a news story about the number of people who stub their toes on a leg of their kitchen table shooting up by 1.75%.
Assuming for a second that this international, worldwide SARS statistics reporting system is working correctly, the United States has only a handful of cases. Worldwide, 78 out of 2,220 people infected have died. How many millions have AIDS in Africa? And what about in the United States? The fact is that people know about AIDS, they know what causes it, they know how to prevent it. We're driven by our usual fear of the unknown, and the news media is milking that for everything it's worth.
Yes, I suppose if I worked in a hospital I'd probably be wearing a mask. Then again, if I worked in a hospital I'd probably be wearing a mask. It is a hospital after all. Sick people do visit hospitals from time to time. The evidence shows that SARS is spread only between family members and through other forms of close contact. Sure, there is that chance that you will run into someone infected with SARS roaming around the streets. (About a 0.00022% chance if we figure 2200 cases out of six billion people) and there is a chance that at that exact moment they will cough. And there is a chance that you will catch SARS from that cough. And yes, I would be very, very worried about that possibility.
I'm also very concerned that a major asteroid will destroy the city in which I'm currently living. As such I'm wearing a hard hat when I'm on the street from now on. Since a major asteroid hits the planet every 100,000 years or so, there's a chance one will land on me tomorrow.
Facebook
Twitter