Matt Vine sez: Since yesterday, the rest of the world has been buzzing with news of the World Health Organization’s warnings of a impending flu pandemic that could kill up to 100 million. These warnings are suspiciously missing from American news sites – we get things like “Godzilla honored with ‘Walk of Fame’ star” from CNN’s front page.” Link
UPDATE:
Alex Rosen sez: “Well, the Times is carrying it, and has a much different spin than the
submitter’s. It sounds like off-the-cuff guestimates by one guy, not a
prediction by WHO itself.
While the agency has previously said that the death toll would be from 2
million to 7 million people, Dr. Omi said the toll “may be more – 20 million
or 50 million, or in the worst case, 100” million.W.H.O. officials in Geneva said later that they had not received an advance
copy of Dr. Omi’s remarks and did not know the basis for his estimates and
why he believed a pandemic was so likely.“No one knows how many are likely to die in the next human influenza
pandemic,” or even when it will occur, said Dr. Klaus Stöhr, the agency’s
top influenza expert. “The numbers are all over the place.”