Panic Spreads at Accelerating Pace!

 

It's been a big week for the H1N1 virus. Besides making plans for an Autumnal apocalyptic mutation, the WHO finally granted it pandemic status, raising the stature of this virus from a porcine outcast to a full-fledged threat to humanity:

clipped from www.cnn.com

Swine flu 'not stoppable,' World Health Organization says

(CNN) The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.

 

Elsewhere, lightning-rod for disasters, Mayor Ray Nagin was detained in a Swine Flu quarantine:

clipped from www.cnn.com

New Orleans mayor quarantined in China for possible flu exposure

(CNN) -- The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been quarantined in China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus, his office said Sunday.

Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus, commonly known as the swine flu virus, the mayor's office said in a statement.

 

While the laudably panicky level of this response is rewarding, we wish it could have been a State Department Official, or perhaps even the President himself who had been detained. This would have added a welcome element of international political crisis to the health threat. Fortunately, we also have news of an American citizen  exercising his right to bear arms, albeit in an unspecified manner related  somehow to his own child's case of  H1N1. Achoo! This is nothing to sneeze at- that gun is loaded and ready to vaccinate:

 

clipped from www.cnn.com

Police: School official wrestles gun-wielding dad over flu memo

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York middle school superintendent wrestled to the ground a gun-wielding parent apparently irate over the school's latest swine flu memo, officials said.

Police and school officials identified the suspect as Peter Cocker, 37, parent of a recently ill student at South Orangetown Middle School in Rockland County.

The man barged into the office of South Orangetown School District Superintendent Ken Mitchell brandishing a gun, said B.J. Greco, public information officer for the district.

 

thanks to Susan from Westport CT for contributing to this update.