In the midst of the panic, Crowley's postings about non-fatal swine flu cases constitute a public service. Until the situation gets dramatically scarier, it bears repeating--often--that plenty of people will wind up catching this bug and making a quick and relatively easy recovery. Others will contract it--or may have already had it--and never know. (Hey, my tough-as-nails daughter had a filthy case of flu/pneumonia a few weeks ago: lethargy, seal-barking cough, mild disorientation, general discomfort, and a fever that topped off at around 104. Did she have swine flu? Highly unlikely. But at the time nobody thought to test her.) Even with health officials on high alert, mild cases of this are certain to slip by, in some instances without the victims ever phoning their doctors.
As other media outlets tally up the global death toll, I vote for Crowley to start an official non-death watch for the sake of the public's mental health.
--Michelle Cottle