Gubbermint's been too busy to worry about such things

"(Government officials have been) slow to react. They say the people have become lax (about swine flu) in recent months, but they have, too." Norio Sugaya, an infectious disease expert at Keiyo Hospital in Kanagawa.

Lax? I haven't read of the government doing much of anything to prepare, except advise people to gargle, wash hands and wear masks of which Sugaya says:

"The virus is not so mild that you can prevent it just by doing those things."

The place where I work part-time has taken action by sending out a 3-sentence memo back in May which basically said if you have symptoms of flu please refrain from coming to work. I replied and asked what we should do if we encounter clients who appear to be ill with flu-like symptoms. Wrong question. No official policy on that. Gambatte.