The flu picture

Posted at 2:31 PM on May 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Health

Whether the fill-in-the-name-you-wish-to-use-here flu outbreak is overstated is a matter of some conjecture, but perhaps we can agree that attempts to graphically represent the outbreak generally fail miserably.

Take the government's PandemicFlu.gov Web site's map above. We're a red state now and it looks bad -- real bad. Severe, even. An epidemic, perhaps.

Reality: Minnesota has had but one confirmed case of the flu-that-must-not-be-named as of 11 this morning. In the great flu pandemic of 1918, it took only a week for the state to go from one confirmed case of the flu, to 1,000.

Comments (3)

I think you're on to something with "Flu-That-Must-Not-Be-Named." How about "You-Know-Flu"?

Posted by Kim V | May 4, 2009 3:44 PM

How about H1N1?

Posted by ryan | May 4, 2009 4:15 PM

I don't think the name of a flu should sound like some out-of-control space satellite.

Posted by Bob Collins | May 4, 2009 5:25 PM

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