I don’t find this particularly surprising, especially since I’ve been mildly sick for the past 2 weeks. The New York Post is reporting that up to 500,000 people in New York City may actually have contracted swine flu.
If you’re curious, there are currently 820 confirmed cases of swine flu in NYC, which puts the number of unreported/unconfirmed cases at some 499,000+ (that is, if you believe the number from the Post, which I personally do…sorta).
I know I’m not exactly a NYC resident, but close enough. I actually probably got the flu from a friend in Queens. Anyway, the thing is doctors don’t really care to find out whether or not their patient has the H1N1 virus. They just want to get it treated ASAP. My doctor told me the same thing that was told to the handful of other people I know who had the flu: You can go to a lab and get tested to see if you have the H1N1 flu, but the results will take 2-3 days and you’re going to have to take Tamiflu anyway. The treatment is the same whether or not it is THE flu. Just come back if symptoms get worse and not better.
So, I think it is very possible that 500,000 people have the swine flu. They just haven’t gone to get it checked out or their doctor didn’t want to take the time to confirm it. I think it really doesn’t matter. It’s the flu. Just pray you can get over it and aren’t one of the rare cases that lead to death. The only reason I would want to know if I had it is for novelty’s sake so I can tell people I had the swine flu. lol