What's the 211?

For my own odd reasons I am calling LA County's 211 service today . . . and the first thing you get on the menu is, "For information regarding Swine Flu, press . . . "

Is it just me, or is the constant stream of pandemics both completely boring and sort of suspect? I mean, I know people have died, but people die of all sorts of things all the time. Including communicable diseases. You know? I may be proven wrong: I felt the same way about natural disasters until the huge typhoon, followed by Hurricane K. Felt like a real creep back then.

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