While we’re up to almost two thousand officially suspected cases and over a hundred deaths, it’s not all that bad.  It spreads about like any other flu, we have stockpiles of drugs that effectively treat it, and nobody outside of third world mexico has died of it.  Most domestic cases have recovered completely.  It’s all just getting a lot more publicity – if this weren’t an H1N1 flu strain, nobody would give it a second thought.

That said, it’s one quick mutation away from being pretty deadly.  Don’t let your guard down, just don’t panic.

AP article: ...ovTCAD97QOF500

CDC info: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

PANIC and stuff!

You’ll find this on a lot of outlets that carry AP news.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_swine_flu_emergency

WASHINGTON – The U.S. declared a public health emergency Sunday to deal with the emerging new swine flu, much like the government does to prepare for approaching hurricanes.

Officials reported 20 U.S. cases of swine flu in five states so far, with the latest in Ohio and New York. Unlike in Mexico where the same strain appears to be killing dozens of people, cases in the United State have been mild — and U.S. health authorities can't yet explain why.

Hope you got your preparations done.  If you haven’t already, get a small stock of N95 masks, gloves (latex, nitrile, or vinyl), sanitizer gel and/or alcohol, and make a casual attempt to avoid large groups of people and mass transit.  Personally I’m still going to go to work, still get groceries, and still live life – this is just the time to go through that mental checklist. 

Okay, JWR is pretty much a crackpot, but he has a lot of good info.  There’s a new flu outbreak that’s being called the swine flu or mexican flu, even the CDC is reporting on it.  It doesn’t appear to be very deadly, but it’s hard to keep down.

The Mexican Flu and You

Protecting Your Family From an Influenza Pandemic

Any way, buy some breathing masks, think about avoiding mass transit and large groups of people, and prepare to spend a week or two mostly at home.

This is how the zombie apocalypse begins…

On a dare, I got some food from mcdonald’s.  A big mac, fries, and a chicken wrap.  I’ve had a couple of fries and a couple of bites from the big mac and I already feel ill.  It tastes pretty horrible.  How does anyone eat this?  Why did I love it as a kid?  Save me!

And half the county’s 911 system is down because of it.

Apparently they did something similar a couple of weeks ago, raided a guy’s home for some alleged misdemeanor offenses supported only by druggie witness testimony (www.uwwwb.com).

This morning they raded Core IP down the road.  They provide the internetwork telephone routing to the county 911 centers.  Oops. http://sites.google.com/site/mnsclec/index

Wonder what else the feds can screw up.