Much ado about swine flu

There have been six confirmed cases of swine flu in Texas. That's out of 20 million in the state. State officials have labeled it as pandemic.

I'm not walking around with a surgical mask on, but if you feel comfortable looking like Hawkeye Pierce in the operating room, so be it. But there are some basic common sense steps the Texas Department of State Health Services recommends:

1. Frequent hand washing. Probably more germs are transmitted this way than just about any other manner, more so that I realized. Wash hands maybe once or twice more a day than normal. I would say a shower or bath counts as a hand washing.

2. Sneeze or cough into a tissue and dispose of said tissue. If tissue is not available, I'd say do it in your hand and then wash your hand.

3. Avoid close contact with sick people (Duh).

4. Stay home if ill (Duh Part II).

In other words, treat swine flu like you would any illness that could be going around.