I was just thinking today: I don't remember any of the things we're currently dealing with happening during H1N1. We didn't shut the entire country down and force an economic depression on ourselves over it. We weren't shamed and treated like heretics for not wearing masks in public. It was just business as usual. I remember hearing that there was a bad flu going around, but that was it.

So why has the reaction been so drastically different this time? Is this the new normal? Are we going to have to commit economic suicide again every time some new bug comes around? Am I going to have to walk around wearing a germ-infested face diaper for the rest of my damn life, even if I'm not sick?

edit: according to the CDC, influenza kills between 12000 and 61000 Americans annually. Why don't we have to go into total shutdown mode over that every year?

I was just thinking today: I don't remember any of the things we're currently dealing with happening during H1N1. We didn't shut the entire country down and force an economic depression on ourselves over it. We weren't shamed and treated like heretics for not wearing masks in public. It was just business as usual. I remember hearing that there was a bad flu going around, but that was it.

So why has the reaction been so drastically different this time? Is this the new normal? Are we going to have to commit economic suicide again every time some new bug comes around? Am I going to have to walk around wearing a germ-infested face diaper for the rest of my damn life, even if I'm not sick?