Comments welcome by email. I don't care if you disagree with me but name-calling and cussing are not acceptable. Comments that are just rude and not relevant will not be posted.
Almost half of Americans think the United States is likely to face a SARS epidemic similar to that in Asia, according to an Associated Press poll.
First of all, SARS may be a new disease but it's not an epidemic.
From my education and my dictionary:
Epidemic
affecting many individuals within a community at the same time
excessively prevalent
Also, consider that all known/suspected SARS patients have been quarantined. It is not even close to likely that you'll "just happen" to catch it while shopping at the mall or riding the city bus, not even in Hong Kong.
A few quick numbers to put things in perspective:
6,054
Total number of SARS cases (including survivors) in the world as of May 2 (WHO)
417
Total number of deaths from SARS in the world as of May 2 (WHO)
3,000
Number of children who die of malaria every single day in Africa (World Bank)
41,000 +
Number of traffic deaths each year in the United States
30,000 +
Number of gunshot deaths each year in the United States
Disclaimer: I do not have the time to work this into a full-fledged statistical report but the numbers above are good estimates.
Dead links removed 8/26/05.
3:01:25 PM
Friday Five — Songs
Not the best set of questions for interesting comments from me—couldn't even think of enough songs to fill in the blanks! I was overdosed on music as a kid and now my car radio is dead so I don't even get my daily dose of country while I'm out and about these days.
