Swine Flu Over? Hardly

Most Americans have no plans to get the swine flu shot and think the problem was overblown and magically gone away, according to a New York Times article based on a Harvard study.

Concern about the swine flu has dropped from 46 percent of Americans to 32 percent, according to the Havard poll.  In kinda good news from a PR standpoint, three-quarters of those polled said they had seen "public health advertising – including posters, billboards, web-based ads, television, or newspaper ads – that provides information about the importance of getting the H1N1 flu vaccine."  So the message got out, even if it didn't necessarily work.  Television was the dominant medium where people saw ads, web sites the lowest (though to be fair, the margin of error kicks in and makes it more or less a tie for the lowest spot).

Is the swine flu over?

Experts weren't surprised by the results, according to the NYT story.

“But that could all change overnight if we get a third wave in late February — and we still could,” said Michael T. Osterholm, director of a Minnesota research center.  “That would make this half-time data, not end-of-the-game data.”

In other words, people are fickle and if the flu kicks up again, a bunch of folks will bitch because they really did intend on getting the shot and it's not really their fault and somehow, somewhere, Obama (or the media) is to blame.

And yeah, I got both my flu shots ages ago, further feeding my sense of immortality. So there.

Obama Don't Like Old People?

I was picking my kids up at school yesterday afternoon and listening to Sean Hannity on his talk radio show discuss the H1N1 (swine flu).  His message?  Obama is out to kill old people.  Why?  That's not clear, but because the priority list for swine flu vaccinations has older Americans at the end of the line, not the beginning, it's all part of some evil plot to kill off old people.  Evidence, it seems, of death panels.

What Hannity failed to include is people born before 1957 have some natural immunity to the swine flu (dammit, I was born in '58).  He also conveniently failed to mention that younger people are more susceptible to the symptoms of this version of the flu than are older people (which he incorrectly suggested was the same as the regular seasonal flu -- science geek, he's not).

In other words, what people know from listening to Hannity's radio show is Obama Hates Old People.

This could be a rap song, kinda like George Bush Don't Like Black People.  Hannity was misleading (at best) and intellectually dishonest (without a doubt).  And speaking of rap and talk radio, a fascinating piece here that compares one to the other.  Wish I'd written it because it's an interesting analogy.  Lots in common that I'd never thought of before -- and I do research on talk radio.

Where Ya Get Your H1N1Info

H1N1, or swine flu. Where are people getting their info on this much-discussed version of influenza? I give you two different lists, both courtesy of the great folks at the Pew Center in this new report.

Most Useful Sources (in order)

1. Internet
2. Cable news
3. Local TV news

Source of Information

1. Local TV news
2. Cable news
3. Network evening news

That second, disturbing list, deserves some explanation. Respondents were asked where they learned something about H1N1 and they could rattle off any number of sources, so 69 percent somehow managed to find local TV news as a source of swine flu info and 63 percent identified cable news. Both have covered this frothing at the mouth, but that's a different matter.

Indeed, the Pew folks found H1N1 to be the big story in terms of interest, even besting that perennial favorite the economy.

Of course H1N1 so far isn't as bad as TV went on and on and on about, and there are even reports of people thinking about swine flu parties to get infected. Why? Apparently there is anecdotal evidence that back in the big one, the 1918 epidemic, people who caught an easier Spring version were better able to handle the next Winter version that killed so many people. The thinking goes -- and I do NOT recommend this because it's dumb -- that catching it now will help you next Winter when we get a nasty, mutated, angry version of the swine flue sweeping across the globe.

The Internet is the growing source of info, and compared to TV I have to say -- thank god. Then again, it's hard to know where on the Net people are getting their info, so lemme take back that thanks until we know more.

Knowing More -- Added Stuff

A Pew Center person pointed me to a report that breaks down where on the Net people are going for H1N1 info. Thanks!

The good news? The CDC is #1. The bad news? Wikipedia is #2. Then there's Google and Yahoo, basically search engines, and then oddly enough ... MySpace? The land of awful music and even awfuler web pages, a source of swine flu info? CNN shows up on the list at #6 and sadly is the only news site mentioned. There's also another government web site, and ... Facebook?

The only thing missing from this frightening scenario is Twitter. Probably comes in at #11.

Swine Flu, ala H1N1

When a health crisis breaks, you can always count on the American public to be in the know. And a lot of other people around the world too.

Remember HIV/AIDS when it broke in the 1980s? All the misinformation?

Now I give you the swine flu. Oops, not swine flu. H1N1. As one story explains, the Obama folks want to make sure we call it by its scientific name. Not everyone is on board, and the power of a name apparently brings out the crazies around the world. Thus:

As has been noted by others, China, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates have all banned meat and pork products from some parts of the US, according to the office of US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

The World Health Organization reiterated that one cannot contract the virus by eating pork, and pointed out that no pig had been found yet with this particular virus.

So let's call it H1N1 -- scientifically correct and trippingly tongue-twisting and no where near as much fun to pun with. As the U.S. ag secretary said:

"This really isn't swine flu. It's H1N1 virus," Vilsack said. "We want to say to consumers here and abroad that there is no risk to you, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that there is any link between consuming pork, prepared pork products, and the H1N1 virus."

Can't wait for the first surveys that ask people what they know about the illness. I did see some interesting interviews in Mexico of regular people who said it came from Canada or the U.S. Never mind we've probably identified the earliest known victim of the disease, a 5-year old kid named Edgar who lives in a Mexican village.

The kooks will be out soon on this one. Tune into your favorite talk radio host for more misinformation.