The elite managed to program some fear into the matrix with this Swine flu bollox, but not enough.
When I read that people were holding Swine Flu parties it made me smile - the Doctors were like - "Nooooooooo!", but so far as I understand it Swine flu is killing fewer people than traditional flu types.
I think the second one is "worse" story is a similar attempt to inject more fear into the Matrix, and they will likely succeed but not anything like the measures that they need to do any real harm.
That's my intuition talking too
A..