In some ways, our public officials may be (inadvertently) helping flame the panic:
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090430/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
"Vice President Joe Biden...Biden also said on NBC's "Today" show that he is advising his own family to stay off commercial airlines and even subways because of swine flu. If one person sneezes on a confined aircraft, he said, "it goes all the way through the aircraft."
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So do people look at that and say "you know, if the VP is telling his own family to avoid air travel, maybe I should too." I don't know what the right answer is.
I had a friend come back from the last 7-night western, and he had done an excursion on Coz (Talum ruins)...he said that had he known about the Swine Flu while he was there, he would have opted not to participate in his Coz excursion.
As far as the "deadly" aspect of the new strain, there is this from the story:
"...Jose Cordova, the Mexican health secretary, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill "is fundamental for getting the best results" and suggested people can survive the virus if it is quickly diagnosed and treated.
But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust. In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs..."
