From what I gather, its a POTENTIAL problem. We're taking steps now (school closings, tracking the virus, developing a vaccine) to prevent the virus from running amok and mutating into something wildly virulent and deadly. Right now, its just the regular amount of virulent and deadly.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! My sweetie and I took the day off and are heading out for b'fast at Hugo's and then to LACMA for the Pompeii exhibit. I feel bad celebrating when my friends more than likely have lost everything. They don't know for sure, but it seems highly likely. I want to do something but there's really nothing to do at this point.

Laurie Garrett, who wrote the cover story on the new Newsweek re: swine flu, was on Colbert last night and said that this iteration of the flu isn't virulent enough to be severe, even though it is widespread enough to be called an epidemic. So, there are a lot worse things to be worried about than this version of swine flu.

(She wrote a great book that I bought about 15 years ago called The Coming Plague that'll scare the shit out of you, but is a very interesting look at all the stuff that's come out of "third world" countries after WWII, when first-world scientists were convinced that there were no more deadly diseases to worry about. Never underestimate Mother Nature!)

::tacklehugs the cookie of glam and gloom::

If they have lost everything, its nice to get sentimental stuff "back". Like, if you have some momento in common, give them yours.

My Aunt and Mother had several knick-knacks that they'd both gotten for Christmas or whatever (mugs, wall plaques, couch throws) and when my Aunt gave hers to Mom after our fire it was wonderful.

but how much of this is an actual problem and how much of it is the media needing something to make a fuss about?

It's no more of a problem than the regular flu is. The CDC (or was it HHS?) has been saying for a few days that school districts need to stop closing, that the swine flu isn't nearly as virulent as they first overreacted about it.

You've surely decided by now Vortex, but I would totally use that reference for all the reasons mentioned. It also shows the well-roundedness and connectedness that the position will call for. There are so many subtle cues in the information we give people and this one is a powerful one.

I'm with Todd about the flu-fatigue. Regular virulent is, of course, sad when it strikes you, but the fear-lust in our culture really gets me down sometimes.

And on a completely different note, Felicitations Glam!

edited because prepositions have their place!

One guy wrote in to the paper saying he'd been reading about the flu epidemic of 1918 and thinks people are too complacent about it ... so he went out and bought supplies of masks, medicines, and food ... for six months.

All he needs is a good axe and a shotgun and he'll be set for the zombie apocalypse. Then again, I'm not sure he's someone we want to arm.

I'm really tired of the swine flu panic.

My friend who runs the daycare at our gym just got back from a week's vacation in Cancun. The owners of the gym made her stay home for another three days because they were worried about her infecting kids with the swine flu. I just rolled my eyes when I found out. At least they're paying her for the time off.

When I went to the free kibble trivia question page - I found out that the brand sponsoring that has some pretty high quality foods in its lines. There are some items with a bit more potato than I'd care to see, but there are several items with lots of meat, and not so much starchy filler - and even the worst of the stuff I looked at is miles higher quality than Hill's.

Some of the swine flu panic comes down to something I rant about frequently: the public lack of understanding of risk and the even more fundamental lack of math. By definition, a new disease is discovered in the sickest patients, because they're the ones who end up in the hospital or dying. Once the disease is identified, then you can start looking for other people who have the disease in a milder form to determine its actual mortality rate, for example. From the first cases, it might look like the disease has a 50 percent mortality rate. After they've found more, less serious, cases, the mortality rate may end up being 5 percent. This is why I twitched violently when a newsperson last night said, "I don't know why the CDC is saying this isn't very serious, when they've just announced that there are so many more cases."

eta: The Coming Plague is a great book. I wish she'd do an update. It is a book that makes you want to grab med students by the lapels and shake them until they agree to be epidemiologists.

The ENT is sending me for a head CT. (Insert joke about finding out whether there's a brain in there or not.) He also thinks some of my problems may be due to my acid reflux and told me to double my Prilosec, which is a damn expensive proposition. Oh, well.