The title of a recently released Yahoo! article is "Hong Kong isolates hotel after 1st swine flu case". The first 2 sentences of this article are "Hong Kong quarantined hundreds of hotel guests and workers Friday after a tourist from Mexico tested positive for swine flu, Asia's first confirmed case of the disease. (Merely) HOURS LATER, South Korean health authorities confirmed on Saturday the continent's second case of swine flu IN A 51-YEAR-OLD WOMAN who recently returned from a trip to Mexico". This seems like a chain reaction with one confirmed case coming hot on the heels of another. Also, a 51-year-old person has now been infected which means that elderly folks are starting to get infected now, which is expected, unlike the previous swine flu cases which were surprising because they involved adolescents and adults with strong immune systems.

Let's retrace the trip of the infected Mexican who came to Hong Kong. According to Yahoo!, "The man, who was not identified, flew from Mexico to Shanghai on AeroMexico flight AM 98, then onto Hong Kong on China China Eastern Airlines flight MU 505. He developed a fever after arriving in the territory Friday afternoon". People who were on that flight should see a doctor promptly.

The next sentence could have political implications: "While the man did not leave his flight in Shanghai, the case still raises concerns about the introduction of the virus in mainland China" because of the lack of transparency within the Chinese government.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang said that "Given the current situation, I'D RATHER ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION than miss the opportunity to contain the disease". If we are just considering the swine flu outbreak then to "err on the side of caution" is the correct decision, but Donald Tsang has also used these words whenever he is asked about when Hong Kong will have universal suffrage in addition to "pragmatism" AND HE ALWAYS ENDS UP BREAKING HIS PROMISE/DRAGGING HIS FEET WHENEVER UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE IS DISCUSSED OR EVEN BROUGHT UP, so we can only wait and see and hope that the Hong Kong leader's response in the face of a possible pandemic is more effective. Fortunately, no other activities have been affected by this isolated case of swine flu.

Finally, according to Yahoo!, "The WHO increased the number of confirmed cases from 257 to 331, BUT THE NUMBER OF SUSPECTED CASES REACHES INTO THE THOUSANDS". Again, we are reminded that we can only associate swine flu with fear right now because we simply don't know how bad this will ultimately get as there could be major discrepancies in media reports.