PSA: Swine Flu

This swine flu thing is making me paranoid. It's not even in Washington yet, but myself and many of my friends are in our early to mid twenties, a prime age bracket for H1N1. In response, I've been surfing the interwebs for useful information on prevention, prep, and news in general. The King County Pandemic Flu Preparedness site is great, the Slog's old post about Erica Barnett's article on the bird flu is mildly useful.

Grist says Smithfield Foods hog farms in Perote, Mexico (origin point of the outbreak) it to blame. I think this means we should call this Factory Farm Flu isntead swine flu. That way it would be factual and kosher.

In further news, the Slog blames the outbreak on the blogosphere's obsession with bacon, which is silly, because the bacon gods protect their own (from everything except heart attacks). However, since the flu probably started at a hog farm, does that mean Slog's claim is partially true via the capitalist paradigm of supply (dirty hog farms & cheap meats) and demand (bloggers love of bacon)? I can see the headlines now: "The Great 2009 Bacon Panic - bloggers blamed for bringing about world catatrophe".

PS About masks - you're going to want to buy the kind that block particulate matter, if you can't find straight up surgical masks. If they aren't to be found at drugstores or grocery stores, try Pacific Hardware on 12th or that funny little vacuum repair place on Madison.