Despite the first official death [1] of a U.S. resident from the H1N1 influenza--aka, swine flu--the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that school systems and childcare facilities stay open; instead, in the no-brainer of all no-brainers, the organization recommends that anyone with flu-like symptoms--students, faculty or staff--remain at home to rest.

This seems to truly drive the point home that all of the hype over the swine flu [2] has been just that--hype. While the CDC has reported 403 cases of the disease in 38 states overall--and a "big bump" in the number of cases is expected after more lab tests are performed and the Southern Hemisphere enters its flu season.

Still, I guess more hype is better than no hype at all, considering the outbreaks of SARS and avian flu in previous years [3]. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is happy with the CDC's work thus far, although she said that not enough is known about the virus.

For more information:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [4]
- check out this article [5]

Related Articles:
Swine flu clamor a distraction from real issues [6]
CDC: Swine flu not as virulent as feared [7]
Swine flu fears jamming emergency departments [8]