Here's my email to Washington Post columnist Ms. Applebaum in response the her assertion that the Ukraine outbreak has been small:
Ms. Applebaum,
To the extent that there have been approximately 1,500,000 people that have come down with swine flu in Ukraine during the past few weeks, 80,000 of them hospitalized, and about 350 dead, many of them due to total disintegration of the lungs (one of the signature features of swine flu), might you please tell me why you think the outbreak has been "small"?
Furthermore, the last two sentences of your op-ed piece are as follows:
"So far, swine flu is not a medical emergency, though no one says that very clearly. And if it becomes one, how will we know?"
Might I suggest that the way we will know is if reporters like you, and media outlets like yours, tell us what is really going on, rather than disseminating nonsense. The following are two examples of true journalism:
1. A description of the death of a Massachusetts 18 year old who died soon after his parents dropped him off to start his first semester of college in Ohio
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... swine_flu/
2. A New York Times article about what was and is going on in Ukraine via a reporter on the ground there:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world ... .html?_r=1
Perhaps you might do an op-ed piece on the fact that Ukrainian swine flu cases arose in early October. Yet, the first WHO response was in early November when they stated, "we have no evidence that there's been any outbreak of swine flu in Ukraine" (despite even casual swine flu watchers knowing with near certainty that that's exactly what it was). WHO then took their sweet time about assembling a team to investigate, sent them on their way some amount of days later, and then confirmed that it was, indeed, swine flu and almost 100% swine flu. Some amount of days later, they issued guidance that a Tamiflu regime should be commenced immediately for those suffering from the flu.
While the WHO was asleep at the wheel, thousands of Ukrainians' loved ones were being hospitalized and hundreds were dying horrible deaths. Now THAT'S a story that should be told.
Ms. Applebaum,
To the extent that there have been approximately 1,500,000 people that have come down with swine flu in Ukraine during the past few weeks, 80,000 of them hospitalized, and about 350 dead, many of them due to total disintegration of the lungs (one of the signature features of swine flu), might you please tell me why you think the outbreak has been "small"?
Furthermore, the last two sentences of your op-ed piece are as follows:
"So far, swine flu is not a medical emergency, though no one says that very clearly. And if it becomes one, how will we know?"
Might I suggest that the way we will know is if reporters like you, and media outlets like yours, tell us what is really going on, rather than disseminating nonsense. The following are two examples of true journalism:
1. A description of the death of a Massachusetts 18 year old who died soon after his parents dropped him off to start his first semester of college in Ohio
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massac ... swine_flu/
2. A New York Times article about what was and is going on in Ukraine via a reporter on the ground there:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world ... .html?_r=1
Perhaps you might do an op-ed piece on the fact that Ukrainian swine flu cases arose in early October. Yet, the first WHO response was in early November when they stated, "we have no evidence that there's been any outbreak of swine flu in Ukraine" (despite even casual swine flu watchers knowing with near certainty that that's exactly what it was). WHO then took their sweet time about assembling a team to investigate, sent them on their way some amount of days later, and then confirmed that it was, indeed, swine flu and almost 100% swine flu. Some amount of days later, they issued guidance that a Tamiflu regime should be commenced immediately for those suffering from the flu.
While the WHO was asleep at the wheel, thousands of Ukrainians' loved ones were being hospitalized and hundreds were dying horrible deaths. Now THAT'S a story that should be told.
ooooyea
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