A week ago I was feeling a bit nervous about the swine flu. The reports out of Mexico were fairly grim and so I made sure that both parents' and my own pantries and freezers were reasonably stocked in case it became advisable to avoid public places. I think roughly 160 dead were being reported at that time. All of a sudden the WHO was saying something like 16 at the end of the week. As of today, the official toll in Mexico is 26. How did we go from zero, to 160, to 26 in the span of a week or less? I haven't seen any media explanation for that.
We likely have not heard the end of this strain, and on the radio earlier today it was pointed out that the Southern Hemisphere is entering their winter flu season, which might be an indicator of what we will see this fall.
I found Kate's use of the term "aporkalypse" in the comments here to be pretty funny. I mean, the flu is certainly no laughing matter, but given the hype and what I think it's safe to say turned out to be an overreaction, it seems particularly apt.
I still can't believe that people are avoiding pork products and that pork producers are facing their own "aporkalypse":
I went to the grocery store at noon and saw that just about all of the pork cuts in the meat department were marked with some sort of sale tag. The prices were not out of the ordinary for sale prices, but I usually don't see so many different cuts all marked down at the same time. The savings are not enough to, er, go whole hog and jam my freezer with pork chops, but I did pick some more up. I don't mind saving a little money obviously, but in the long run it's not good to see the industry damaged over something like this. Eventually demand will recover and then we will see pork prices climb steeply until production recovers, which takes years. That wouldn't be good either.
Recent Comments