The "Swan flude" subsides?

With thanks to whichever local broadcaster is responsible for the above pronunciation

Swine flu worldwide as of this morning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090506/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu_glance

RantWoman notes that the virus does not just hop on airplanes by itself. RantWoman would be interested in encountering some analysis of the virus' movements. RantWoman will file this on her "it would be great..." shelf.

RantWoman notes the second death in the US of swine flu, a teacher from TX with other chronic health problems. RantWoman also notes that both the number of suspected cases of swine flu in King County WA where RantWoman lives (54?) and the number of confirmed cases (9) are higher than last week. Over this short interval RantWoman considers these jumps an artifact of the data collection and confirmation process, not necessarily a spike in infections.

All the schools in the cluster nearest where RantWoman lives have re-opened and health officials have shifted from closing schools to monitoring and making sure individual cases stay home. Mexico City is reportedly returning to normal, and numerous travelers caught in various kinds of instant quarantine and air travel freeze are now movint along.

RantWoman confesses: she knows of a second computer lab with a lot of shared computers. Today RantWoman did not even bring up hand sanitizer when needed supplies were being discussed. RantWoman promises to do something about that by email.

RantWoman has been noting various moments from her diet mainly of NPR. It would be nice if RantWoman noted names or book titles. Well, it would be nice.

One speaker talked about his book about the 1918 epidemic. Apparently in some communities people starved to death because their families were afraid to bring them food. On the other hand, in San Francisco there was a big campaign about "Wear a mask and survive." The masks actually did not offer much protection, but people wore them and no one died of starvation. One would like to know what happened as far as illness, but it is a heartening story.

The other media moment that sticks out: the former CNN science correspondent who decided not to watch this thing unfold, partly because one of the anchors at his former network was dithering on camera about "can we panic now?" RantWoman would generally say, 1. If you have time to ask about panicking, maybe you should be getting real news. 2. Tidings of "swan flude" are going to emerge VERY slowly and probably not in tune with anchors' need to preen on camera. The anchors need good news staff with their eyes on the ball, and the public has plenty of other problems, such as cutting public health at a time like this....