How do you cook a pandemic?

So everyone here is talking about the swine flu. You can hardly miss it if you watch even one second of news coverage. WHO keeps updating the world by the minute and, of course, it's the talk of the water coolers in every office. Ours is no exception.

While I appreciate being in the know when I need to be I don't know if the barrage of constant information is a good thing. There is a certain amount of panic involved when I hear people talking about this and now every innocent sniffle or sneeze is cause for some to worry. Still there are those here who must worry...

My friend is married to a Mexican man who is now attempting to go through the legal immigration process he previously diverted. In order to do this, he must leave his wife and two small children and return to Mexico for an indeterminate amount of time. He's waiting right now for his attorney to tell him when that trip will take place. For us here in the US, we are looking at swine flu as something that can still be managed adequately. For my friend and her husband, they are looking at sending him to a hard hit area of Mexico with little clean water let alone proper medical care. As of this writing, 184 confirmed deaths due to swine flu in Mexico and many of them were in the area he is headed. So, that puts a different perspective on the whole thing.

Though I know the media always puts a dooms day spin these things, it's hard not to worry when it can and will affect someone you know. I also think it's easy for us here in the US to sometimes think it can't happen here. But does that really matter? If it's happening somewhere, shouldn't we be concerned? Doesn't what happens to those around us matter? It should. I still hope it does.