This morning’s ABC news is reporting that the World Health Organisation has issued a pandemic alert about swine flu. They’re also saying Mexico city is in a sort of semi-lockdown state, with public gatherings off and food & bev businesses like cafes only selling takeaways.

I’m curious about how the perceptions around communicable diseases will affect social behaviour over the next few days and how that will affect an already fragile economy.

How are people behaving further north in the USA? Are people staying home instead of going out? Are they at the point where a coughing fit in a cinema is going to spark a stampede for the exits? Are folk in Hollywood worried about an impact on Wolverine’s opening weekend?