Here are some of the latest statistics from Japan concerning the current swine flu outbreak:
Infected people: 311
Daily deaths from malaria in Uganda 320. Sorry, I know that has nothing to do with Japan.
Affected cities: 7
Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama
Media Hype: Plenty
Oops, did we just use words like pandemic and apocalypse? BEHIND YOU! PIG!
Panic level: Nuts, crazy and then some
People, step away from the TV and take a deep breath. Yes, yes, I know the net isn’t much better.
Shameless profiteering: Up 456%
An elementary school kid from Kansai has been selling surgical masks at a 300% mark up to help his fellow man.
Amount of statistics made up on the spot: 87.6%
I was watching a report this morning where enthusiatic journalists were counting people wearing masks walking out of stations in various major cities around Japan. In Yokohama, one of the reporters announced that during a one hour period they counted 122 people wearing masks which accounted for 50% of the people they saw. So they were seriously telling us that they only saw 244 people come out of Yokohama station on a Friday morning? See, there’s this thing called maths…
Ratio of my respect for humans to virus: 0/1
One thing I have learned, when shit happens, make ‘em panic and sell, sell, sell.
OK, OK, I’m putting my soap box away. Yes, let’s be over cautious when it comes to viral epedemics but couldn’t we panic with more taste?
BTW, did you like the stats in swine pink?
