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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Snoutbreak When Did Swine Flu Jump the Pork?

Posted by Eli Sanders on Tue, May 5, 2009 at 10:30 AM

It's starting to seem that, at least from a Seattle perspective, "yawn" might have been the most correct answer during this definitive series of online swine flu panic polling.

But when, exactly, did swine flu stop being a terrifying calamity for all of humanity and turn into a much less panic-inducing (but perhaps still Purell-selling) problem?

Did you know that it was imminently played out on Wednesday, April 29, when the World Health Organization upped the global threat level to 5, declaring an imminent pandemic? Or on Thursday, April 30, when Joe Biden started telling people to stay off planes and suspected swine flu turned up in Seattle? How about Friday, May 1, when Madrona elementary was closed because of one student with suspected swine flu and the number of confirmed U.S. cases stood at 141? Or was it on Saturday, May 2, when the number of suspected cases in the Seattle area kept rising even as the WHO said there was no sign of the flu spreading outside of North America and Mexico said its number of real cases could end up being half of what had been suspected? Perhaps it was Sunday, May 3, when it was increasingly pointed out that the vast majority of cases in the U.S. are mild? Or maybe it was yesterday, Monday, May 4, when the number of probable swine flu cases in the Seattle area continued to rise somewhat but officials announced that all nine closed schools in the region would reopen? Or was it today?

Well? When did you know? Because you knew before everyone else, right?

When, exactly, did swine flu jump the pork?

(Thanks to the awesome New York Times swine flu tracker for help with the timeline.)

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Comments (17) RSS

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It was Saturday because that was a day I was too busy to look at a computer and consequently missed out on a lot of hysteria and screaming and panic. That was lovely!

Posted by Chris B

on May 5, 2009 at 10:42 AM

Fuck yourself sideways, Eli. This shit is real.

Posted by Greg on May 5, 2009 at 10:50 AM

I'm on record arguing against panic on the 25th.

Posted by Fnarf

on May 5, 2009 at 10:51 AM

PS: if this flu comes back with a vengeance for a second round this summer, the media and the WHO will share equally in the blame when nobody pays any attention to their warnings.

Posted by Fnarf

on May 5, 2009 at 10:52 AM

The second people started panicking. Yawn.

Posted by N on May 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM

uh, I, and pretty much everyone I know, NEVER went into panic mode...only babies and pussies went koo-koo bananas.

Posted by michael strangeways

on May 5, 2009 at 10:59 AM

Thursday. The day I decided I would risk a packed room to see David Sedaris. Worth it!

Posted by lyric on May 5, 2009 at 11:03 AM

Can anyone tell me why they have not yet confirmed *any* of the cases in WA? I heard that they were going to release confirmation info over last week, but that obviously didn't happen.

The CDC has confirmed cases from 38 states:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/

Did someone send the WA samples to the wrong address or something?

Posted by stinkbug on May 5, 2009 at 11:22 AM

"PS: if this flu comes back with a vengeance for a second round this summer, the media and the WHO will share equally in the blame when nobody pays any attention to their warnings."

The WHO did the right thing, in my opinion.

Posted by Jonathan Golob

on May 5, 2009 at 11:23 AM

just wash your hands and stop whining already.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 5, 2009 at 11:24 AM

Everything happens on a Tuesday.

that's a macrumors.com inside joke.

Posted by Simone on May 5, 2009 at 11:31 AM

Jonathan, can you answer the question at #8? thanks!

Posted by stinkbug on May 5, 2009 at 11:45 AM

@12 and 8: Jonah answered it for you.

Mostly, I suspect there is a huge backlog at the CDC. At the other end of this chain there is probably some miserable tech doing thousands of PCR reactions--mostly of samples from the panicked well.

Posted by Jonathan Golob

on May 5, 2009 at 11:50 AM

@4
Too true. In fact, the media's overreaction to pretty much everything has sort of branded them a permanent "boy who cried wolf" in my mind. I could be laying in bed, coughing up blood and I probably still wouldn't believe their hype.

Posted by Urgutha Forka on May 5, 2009 at 11:50 AM

ah, ok, thanks. slog comments are more fun than slog, but I guess that means I miss out on things.

Posted by stinkbug on May 5, 2009 at 11:57 AM

WRT "from a Seattle perspective," I've selected "Yawn" a couple of times in the online swine flu panic polling on SLOG, and I'm not a Seattleite. Don't live anywhere NEAR Seattle, actually.

Posted by Nora on May 5, 2009 at 1:15 PM