The New York Times, of all places, ran an article about the debate among the top experts on pandemics if it is better to get the Swine Flu now or later.

“The idea has arisen from the history of the 1918 Spanish flu. A mild spring outbreak was followed by two deadly waves in the early and late winter of 1918-1919. Some believe, although there is little evidence beyond anecdotal reports in old newspapers, that those who got sick in the first wave were less likely to get sick in the second and third.

Many cite as the source of their thinking the book “The Great Influenza,” a history of the 1918 pandemic by John M. Barry.

Mr. Barry, in a telephone interview, said he had never publicly suggested deliberate self-infection, “but I used to joke with my wife, and I may have jokingly said it in speeches, that if a virus emerged and looked mild, I’d be on an airplane to Indonesia.”

He referred to Indonesia, he explained, ‘because that’s where the action is with [Bird Flu] H5N1.’”

The New York Times dig at it’s own profession, “old newspapers,” is especially hilarious because you can bet the “old newspapers” had a much higher chance of being accurate in a real life-or-death situation than those in today’s media who are consumed by fear-driven-hysterics about the mild Swine Flu.

What is the difference between looking to become infected with the Swine Flu and a vaccination?  Is the end result any different?  Oh, there are higher risks — back to the lets live and risk free world thing, huh?  And who says it is risky — the same people who have no vaccine and were wrong about virtually every single detail they reported about the Swine Flu for a week?  So, really, anyone should listen to those people?

I’ve always thought Olesen made the most sense out of all the pandemic experts.  Here is his take:

Michael Olesen, chief of infection control at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and a flu pandemics expert, said he was not planning to seek out infection but was “taking a passive approach to getting infected.”

When he heard about the outbreak in Mexico, he said, he bought extra N95 face masks and had been planning to wear one on a flight to Detroit soon.

“Now I’m thinking of taking my chances” and forgoing the mask, he said. “That’s a change from a week ago. I think to myself, yeah, I’ll be miserable for a week — but that’ll beat maybe being seriously sick later.”

The experts who were reporting 176 deaths in Mexico from the Swine Flu have now said their were 17 deaths.  This inflated death toll was a classic case of the experts looking through the wrong end of the telescope.  They got it wrong by an order of magnitude of ten times.

To compound their error they did not test the population at large to find that thousands had had the Swine Flu with no symptoms.  Why?  They were scared.  They were so anxious to hit the alarm button, they saw 10 alarm fire and really, it was a couple of kids smoking cigarettes outside in the back of the school.

But the media and government elite are a prideful bunch.  Why admit a mistake?  But their credibility is shredded and they should admit they were wrong.

And the American public really does not like those who cry wolf.  It disrupts their lives.  It makes them annoyed and contemptuous of any future hysterics.

But The New York Times reports that the big problem with either actively or passively getting the Swine Flu is that there is no one to get it from:

many experts noted that there was a big flaw in any self-infection plan: it is not easy to find and cuddle up to someone with swine flu. There were only 642 confirmed cases in the country as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the CDC warns there is a “risk of complacency” on the part of the American public.  Maybe the public is complacent because, oh, I dunno know, there is nothing to worry about.

I met a Veterinarian on a plane on Sunday who said she thought her entire office had the Swine Flu about a month ago, in early April.  She said her symptoms fit the description of Swine Flu.  It could be that Swine Flu was in the U.S. since early April. She works on Long Island in NY.

Really, we are left with the usual question about how those crying-wolf could have been so wrong about everything about the Swine Flu: was it incompetence and fear that lead to hysterics or was it intentional and the media was complicit, to boost their Neilson ratings and therefore their ad revenue?