Someone please tell me what’s going on here.

SWINE FLU.  It’s been only what,  5 or so days? And today America confirmed and announced the first death from the swine flu outside of Mexico.  The Health Minister in France has now suspended all flights from the European Union to Mexico.  The first case of the swine flu was found today in Germany.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) now raised the Pandemic Alert Level to Phase 4.

A Phase 4 alert is characterized by confirmed person-to-person spread of a new influenza virus able to cause “community-level” outbreaks.” The increase in the pandemic alert phase indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased.

Schools are closing.  Events are being canceled.  Tourist destinations shut down.

Is a pandemic about to break out?  A world wide pandemic?

On the other hand, it has been said that the typical seasonal influenza virus strand takes approximately 36,000 lives annually, so is it as big of a deal as we think?

I guess time will only tell.