Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

As far as luxuries go, it's not exactly up there with designer clothes and vacations in the Caribbean, but now it seems that even vitamins that supposedly help fight off colds have fallen victim to recessionary scrimping. But that's a good thing, according to killjoy doctors who point out that once you've caught a cold, nothing's going to make much difference. Much better, they say, to focus on prevention, which means adopting a Howard Hughes-ish policy of not touching people and obsessively hand-washing: "When people cough, they cover their mouths with their hands. Then you shake hands with them." We also think that it's about time germ masks became socially acceptable street wear.