Afternoon Snooze Button

Dear People Who Are Paranoid About Swine Flu,

This just popped up in Google news: “Eco Worldly: Swine Flu: First Case of Pet Cat Contracting H1N1”

Oh no holy crap a cat might die (note: tons of cats get run over by cars and die of starvation every day. Why do we care about this one more than the rest?)

It’s just like normal flu, with an animal’s name attached to the front of it. Why does that freak out out so much?

73% of all flu cases this year are swine flu, meaning that it’s pretty much this year’s seasonal flu strain. You’re not going to die from it, unless you take really bad care of yourself, have some underlying conditions, don’t get medical help, or are under six months. (If you’re under six months, you’re not reading this blog , meaning that you, dear readers, are probably not going to die from the swine flu.)

As of last week, we’ve had 1000 people die of the swine flu in the US. Yes, that’s kind of a lot, but consider this:

• Car crashes kill 40,000 people in the US every year.
• Tobacco kills 435,000 people in the US every year.
• “Sexual behaviors” kill 20,000 people in the US every year.

So, how dangerous is swine flu? Not very. Everybody, chill the fuck out.

A chill pill: the swine flu cure that America needs most.