Have we really become a nation of scaredy cat wusses?
The measles outbreak tied to Disneyland continued to spread anxiety Friday as two new cases emerged overnight in Marin County in California — along with at least one in Nebraska — while Arizona officials warned that at least 1,000 people may have been exposed to the virus through seven others in that state.
[. . .]
Concern about the highly contagious disease intensified Friday in several states, including Minnesota, where health officials are notifying hundreds of people who may have come into contact with a University of Minnesota student with measles.
There was also anxiety in Arizona, where thousands of people are arriving in Phoenix for the Super Bowl on Sunday. The disease centers are now advising anyone with symptoms not to attend the game.
Wow. "Anxiety is spreading." "Concern has intensified." Maybe I'm hanging out with the wrong crowd, but I don't sense quite that level of apprehension out there. Of course my crowd is mostly made up of people old enough to remember when just about every kid got the measles. I recall my own bout as an irritating interlude, but not something to run to the ER screaming in panic over. Hell, chicken pox was more uncomforatble than measles. (Oh, my God, I've got the shingles waiting inside me, ready to pounce! Quick, get me to the ER.)
Of course any disease is dangerous, and there are plenty negative effects short of fatality. So a pox on the chuckleheads in the anti-vaccine movement for whatever role they're playing in the outbreaks. Unbelievably, some schools don't have a policy of turning the unvaccinated kids away. That is reckless endangerment.
