H1N1 pandemics and disease mongering: applying holistic philosophy to counteract fear.

摘要

This past September 2009, during the first faculty meeting of the new school year, the provost and dean of students at the university where I teach addressed us with a full PowerPoint presentation and crisis plan for H1N1 flu. Armed with these slides, talking points, and recommendations (all from a state-sponsored conference that they attended in summer 2009), they shared alarming predictions of morbidity and lengthy school closings. I had been casually following the activity of H1N1 as it had played out across the globe, where officials gather data to predict flu activity in our part of the world. From what I could tell, H1N1 was not going to be a big problem. Yet in an unprecedented display of preparation and planning, we were being warned about the likelihood of a serious pandemic.