WHO declaration of pandemic

Today's WSJ Swine Flu live blog

Index to all WSJ Swine Flu live blogs

Here's a live blog post from the WHO meeting where a pandemic was declared. Remember, a pandemic just means a disease spreads person-to-person and it is circulating in more than one country.

The primary way to avoid any person-to-person disease is 'social distancing', and folks in the US and Canada are better at social distancing than any other country in the world.

Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano said, dealing with the swine flu virus will be "a marathon, not a sprint" which is the best metaphor I've heard. We'll have it around for a while, just like we've had AIDS around for decades, and have adapted our behavior accordingly. Who's smarter; us, or this virus?

She added individual citizens have a responsibility to help; well, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds after you applied liquid or foam soap.

Thorough hand washing includes getting under the nails, and at the seams of your fingernails. If you don't want to get a nail brush, then change your toothbrush to the new one the dentist gave you; soak the old one in peroxide or bleach for a few minutes to clean it, and then the toothbrush can become your nail brush.