This Little Piggie

Hysteria annoys and appalls me.  Today at church, instead of greeting fellow congregants with a handshake or hug, it was suggested that we bow – to be sensitive to the people who are worried about catching the so-called “swine flu.”

First, this viral strain has as much to do with birds as pigs.  It’s a hybrid pig-bird-human flu strain with no demonstrable link to pigs at all.  The more appropriate name is H1N1.  So let’s get some perspective on the H1N1 flu:

People in the world: 6,777,490,406

Confirmed cases of H1N1 world-wide: 900

Cases of H1N1 in Ohio: 1

Deaths from H1N1 in Ohio: 0

Deaths from H1N1 worldwide: 20

Incubation period of the H1N1 flu: one week

So unless you’ve been to Mexico in the last week – or interacted with someone who has – you have no mathematically rational reason to be concerned about catching H1N1. But apparently, many people are not rational.

Maybe the price of pork will go down.