Swine Flu: Hogwash or serious threat to electronics business?

Techtool - there's a profound difference between "hysteria" and "skepticism" or "concern". In one case, we create fear by asserting adjectives such as "mortality", "pandemic". . . . . in the other case, we ask questions. If there is a rational distinction that can be made between the current strain of H1N1 and more common seasonal infuenza variants - it has not been clearly stated in a manner which is consumble by the broader population. Unfortunately from EVERYTHING we've been told to date, in terms of mortality, in terms of preventive measures, and in terms of curative response - - H1N1 is, for all intents an purposes - no different from seasonal infuenza. Kevin Szabo - - MOST strains of influenza possess the fundamental ability to quickly mutate and increase in their rate of mortality - is H1N1 demonstrably different in its ability to mutate ? The answers to this and other so blatantly obvious unanswered questions are already at work seriously challenging the credibility of WHO and CDC. If and when there *is* a serious threat, many will now recall the "false alarm" of H1N1.

We had the same thing with the 1976 flu and many died from the shot my mother in law was one of them. It was some time later that she got Guillain Barre as did so many from the shot. That is also happening from the shot now. Google it before thinking about getting the shot.

Why is it considered acceptable for companies to inflict a "travel ban" on their employees at all? If governments do not see a large enough problem to close a border then I do not see where corporations get off telling their employees what to do with their vacation time. I find it galling at a deep level to find that the stick used to enforce this is the nullification of your medical benefits. There is notably no carrot to go along with it. If this is considered "OK" then what is to keep them from doing the same thing about smoking, skiing, driving a motorcycle, or anything else that could negatively impact the corporate health insurance budget?

Of course the media likes a good story, so there is a fair bit of overexposure. However, I have a friend who was near the front line (respiratory tech in Ottawa), with colleagues in Toronto. SARS never reached Ottawa, but we were ready to ship all our ventilators to T.O. if the quarantine failed to contain the virus. Remember that SARS killed between 10% - 20% of the people it infected. And it was a pretty horrible death (not that there is really a good one). So this is the concern with H1N1. No one knows if it will mutate and become deadly. So far we are lucky. If the disease control wasn't doing the process they are following now, and there were much larger number of fatalities, you can be sure that they would be held up for ridicule and continuous inquests for the rest of their lives. Also realize that there are still people that thought Y2K wasn't real and will never connect the billions of dollars of investment to make sure our infrastucture didn't fall over. Different threat, similar hype, and similar incorrect 20/20 hindsight on the situation. So I think the WHO and others are correct to be cautious. I applaud them.

If you have questions about corporate flu pandemic response (and affects to the semiconductor supply chain) please forward them to me at sbaliga@semi.org. I'll try to introduce the questions during the webcast. Thanks.

You''re generating hysteria about supposed hysteria.

Good antidote to the media fed hysteria. What's the best way to treat infected pigs? Use plenty of hog-wash.