Pandemics

[wgeo]

Loan forgiveness sounds nice, but it can be a hard sell, especially with what's going in education. So many teachers promised loan forgiveness only to never receive it.

I think the bigger issue, is stopping them from going into such debt to begin with. Just the idea of that much debt is causing a real shortage of doctors. We need more doctors overall, especially ones willing to go into primary care fields. It seems odd to me that the older generations have allowed college/higher education costs to spiral out of control and then sit back and blame the current generation for having to live within the current system. I make more money then my parents did when I was a teenager. My son just got a letter from my alma mater offering him a $1,000 legacy scholarship. It went right into the trash, we couldn't begin to afford to send him to my college at today's rates, even though my parents and I were able to swing it back when I went.

Oops - sorry for the tangent!

Pandemics? My biggest fear would be the confusion that will inevitably be caused by social media and the lack of factual data that would be prevalant during the beginning stages of a pandemic.

 

[indimom]

Pandemics? My biggest fear would be the confusion that will inevitably be caused by social media and the lack of factual data that would be prevalant during the beginning stages of a pandemic.

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

What was scary to me was how unprepared the CDC was with the anthrax outbreak in 2001. I mean that's what they're there for, and anthrax is a pretty basic pathogen. Anything new and virulent comes out and I'd be seriously worried if they could handle it. But then again, these kinds of diseases have occurred throughout time, I believe, and are almost a means of population control and therefore necessary. I don't know - maybe that sounds crazy. Just thinking "out loud".

The deadliest form of anthrax cannot be transmitted person to person, and the other forms are very unlikely to, so unless bioterrorism becomes a large looming threat again, not sure why the average person would worry about it.

Pandemics? My biggest fear would be the confusion that will inevitably be caused by social media and the lack of factual data that would be prevalant during the beginning stages of a pandemic.

I agree this is a terrible problem. I mean just look at the disboards posts on Zika from a couple years ago! Uneducated fearmongering posters talking about how Zika was going to take over the globe.

ETA my biggest current concern is antibiotic resistance. Too many antibiotics still being prescribed and used in situations that don't warrant them.

 

[DeniseJH]

The deadliest form of anthrax cannot be transmitted person to person, and the other forms are very unlikely to, so unless bioterrorism becomes a large looming threat again, not sure why the average person would worry about it.

I'm not talking about the average person worrying about it - I'm talking about the CDC being prepared for it. They weren't. And as you used the word "again", indicating it did already happen once, it seems they should have been.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I read a novel last year called Station Eleven that was about a global pandemic and it’s aftermath. It was a little scary. I can’t imagine dealing with a real pandemic.