OK, I'm stealing this

... from Caminante.

Some perspective
From a thread on Facebook:

Deaths from Swine Flu = 200
Deaths from Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa = 41 million

and

A mere $10 can provide insecticide-treated nets to protect people. Episcopal Relief and Development has raised nearly $3M for distribution of nets through NetsforLife in Sub-Saharan Africa.

I believe H1N1 is serious. I also believe we are being hysterical about it.

Here is more information for perspective:

Regular flu in the United States kills about 30,000 people in an average year. 90% of those are people 65 and older who are already not in the best of health. There have been 820-987 deaths each week from the regular flu in the 122 cities that are in the center for disease control tracking system. In the USA there are about 2.5 million deaths in a year.

[Emphasis mine]
[source]

That is an average of 82 deaths a day in the United States. From regular flu.

Again, I'm not saying H1N1 is not dangerous with huge potential for infection and death. I believe it is all of those. We should take precautions, be prudent, have all manner of emergency plans in place. But for heaven's sake, people, let's get a grip. (No, not the grippe.)

-the BB