The flu this year is so bad the CDC is postponing their much anticipated How to Prepare for Nuclear War training. I suppose it’s comforting the CDC considers the flu a more pressing threat than the potential for nuclear war. On the other hand, the NY Times reports that “Even in the absence of a pandemic, a severe flu year kills nearly 650,000 people worldwide, while a mild one kills just under 300,000…In recent years, the C.D.C. estimates, flu has killed about 12,000 Americans in mild years and 56,000 in moderately severe ones.” Sure, those numbers don’t compare to those predicted to be killed in a nuclear attack, but that’s a different article.

Emergency rooms all over the country have struggled to keep up with incoming patients, some of them even having to turn patients away. Though the flu shot this year is estimated to be about 30% effective, it’s still very much worth getting:

It’s not too late to get a flu vaccine, the CDC said, and there should still be plenty of vaccine supply. Sometimes there are second and even third waves of flu, so a state that’s been hit hard by H3N2 might see a fresh wave of H1N1 flu later and then influenza B may pass through even later.

In addition to the flu shot and perhaps somewhat compulsive hand-washing, I’d like to offer my other personal recommendations of more citrus, and more fresh air.