So far, swine flu hasn't developed into the deadly global pandemic that many feared. Was it all media hype, as Cervantes argues for AlterNet? Or did all that quarantining and hand-washing actually help? While we'll never know what might have been, perhaps we should consider the relatively mild swine flu as a cheap lesson -- a dry run, if you will.

The swine flu scare underscores the need for strong public health infrastructure, writes Amitabh Pal in the Progressive: