By MICHAEL K. NORRIS
Well, the media got its wish today: the first death in the U.S. attributed to swine flu. I say ‘wish’ because I couldn’t help noticing a story yesterday covering an interview with Dr. Richard Besser, acting director for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. He said that U.S. deaths from swine flu would be likely. Because of what he said, the words “deaths likely” was splashed on headlines across the country.
This is one of those times I can’t help admiring the media in a Lex Luthor sort of way. It’s not that they’re lying or being evil, but they’re cherry-picking information to make a story scarier. Case in point: Dr. Besser said in that same interview the ordinary flu kills about 36,000 people annually in the U.S., but that stat didn’t find its way into nearly as many headlines as ‘deaths likely.’
Speaking of death, according to more statistics from the Centers for Disease Control 2,448,017 people died in this country in 2005. The most common cause: heart disease, which took the lives of 652,091 people that year. Swine flu has taken, well, far fewer, but you wouldn’t know it by the current coverage.
Can you imagine if heart disease inspired the same kind of fear swine flu does? We’d be banning red meat less than 99.9% lean, setting fire to the headquarters of cigarette companies, and making all Americans pay a certain share of their taxes in sit-ups. Instead of seeing people walking around in face masks, we’d see them jogging in place with free weights at shoulder level.
Government leaders and agencies do have a responsibility to prepare for dangerous outbreaks, and while citizens can prepare too (i.e., washing hands with hot, soapy water) it’s just as important to keep a proper perspective and separate fact from what-sells-newspapers.
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