Sadly the swine flu took the life of Mitchell Weiner, an assistant principal at Susan B. Anthony Intermediate School in Queens. As a result of this death, eleven New York City schools are closed today. So far, at least 8,480 people in 40 countries have contracted the illness, killing 75.

So should I be freaking out since I live in NYC? From what I understand, only people with severely weak immune systems are at risk or am I totally wrong here? Fellow blogger Melanie said earlier this month “my biggest worry right now with respect to this disease is how worried I should be. Because right now, I’m actually not that worried” and I couldn’t agree more. Am I being ridiculous to be so chill about this pandemic ( sounds like such a scary word right?) I’m just a tad sine flu’d out. Apparently I’m not alone:

“One of the concerns of repeated media coverage, people get turned off and there is a risk of complacency,” said Dr. Richard Wenzel, professor and chairman of the department of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. “I think we have to guard against complacency.” -ABC News

So is there a face mask to protect me from complacency too? I guess I will just keep using copious amounts of hand sanitizer.