Yeah, standard procedure from the SARS days.

I need to find my digital thermometer. I don't know if it still even works.

I wholeheartly agree, but in my opinion there is a difference between taking the necessary measures and creating a mass panic.

What happens if you report an above-average temperature? Do they just say "Don't come to school today" or do men in hazmat suits show up at your door?

They probably drive up with a van and execute you inside.

nuttyturnip, I think there are mandatory quarantine procedures plus a hospital stay :p

Some nosepicker from Germany thinks a bunch of doctors and medical researchers from around the world are wrong?

Yeah, that sounds legitimate, I'm gonna go with this guy.

Mush is right in that, for most people, the effects of the swine flu will be no greater or worse than any other common flu. But this isn't what concerns doctors foremost; it's the potential rate of infection possessed by the virus that is of greater concern. It's a new mutation, nobody has antibodies. The vaccine will take time to develop and there are legitimate worries that the virus may mutate further, complicating treatment. While places with established healthcare systems like America, Canada, Europe and Japan may not suffer as badly, the possibility of a global pandemic means that the swine flu poses a threat to underdeveloped nations. That's where it will wreak the most damage.

The primary issue is the rate at which the disease will spread, not the severity of it. Even if the virus simply caused you to have a blue spot on your forehead for a week - pretty harmless - if it infects a high percentage at a fast pace, it's still a pandemic.

That said, Mush is rather naive to laugh it off just because it probably won't be any worse than a typical flu. It's still a flu.

Yes. A real problem would be if it could spread around freely, mutating into tens of different branches in different parts of the world. Then treating it, if it suddenly just burst flaming, would be impossible.

It's better to be systematicly cautious now.

That was when Cheney was VP. Now we have Biden, so they arrive by train.

But I'm torn on how much of an overreaction everyone's having. I think Crash got it, in the way that it sounds like it's not any worse than the typical flu but it's new to the scene and spreads rather quickly and that's where the concern is coming from.