swine flu

[April20]

We just got an email at work that basically says all business related travel to Mexico is prohibiited until further notice and that if we personally travel to Mexico, we have to be quarantined for three days upon arrival home. I guess you could say they''re taking it seriously . Most of the employees of the company work directly in hospitals, hence the strict policy, but I find it very interesting how many businesses and schools are taking action now. On one hand, I think it''s great that people are being proactive instead of reactive. On the other hand, I wonder if so much of this is hype and will slowly fade away in the news.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

Date: 5/1/2009 3:18:04 AM
Author: choro72
Hong Kong used to be this dirty overpopulated city. Street vendors were selling meat that was covered with dust, and the only clean restroom was at my relatives'' places only because they are neat freaks. I think the only time people washed their hands was when they took a shower.

Ever since the SARS breakout, they put plastic covers on elevator buttons which were changed many times a day. Janitors to clean the buildings regularly, immaculate bathrooms, and people give you a dirty look if you so much as sneeze.

I hope this current flu will encourage Mexico to make the same changes, but it will be hard because it''s not a tiny city like HK.

Comparatively Hong Kong/China is a very wealthy city/country and has the resources for that kind of response (though had lacked motivation up to that point?). Regardless of what anyone says and political correctness aside, Mexico City is not a first world city. It''s dirty and yes, it''s very crowded. I don''t know about 35 ppl to a house, but figuratively people are on top of each other. Diseases like this are common all over the world. The only difference is that Mexico is a very popular vacation destination and the Mexico City airport is a large airport where a lot of vacation travelers are routed through. The fact of the matter is, the disease is not being passed around the states by Mexicans or illegal immigrants, it''s being passed around by middle class white Americans who went on vacation and flew through the Mexico City Airport.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Okay, now THIS is a vacaction. Fun, Fun, Fun. . . just pass them each a margarita and all is good.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 5/1/2009 3:15:27 PM
Author: MC
Okay, now THIS is a vacaction. Fun, Fun, Fun. . . just pass them each a margarita and all is good.

Is that guy going to be surprised if his tan turns out funny?

 

[Mara]

not sure if anyone else has pointed this out but 50k people a year in the US die from regular flu, non-swine. no one ever talks about those numbers.

i don't quite get how it can be considered a pandemic here considering the numbers so far. not that people should not be AWARE of what is going on....but some of this media reporting is borderline ridiculous.

did you hear they landed a plane in NYC or something cuz a woman on there was coughing and showing flu symptoms? she's already been on the plane for how long with the other people as they all breathe in recycled air? what is up with landing the plane like URGENT landing.

as for comparisons to the 1918 flu... well it's almost 100 years later, i would hope that we have better medical technology.

 

[InLuv101]

Date: 5/1/2009 5:09:34 PM
Author: Mara
not sure if anyone else has pointed this out but 50k people a year in the US die from regular flu, non-swine. no one ever talks about those numbers.

i don''t quite get how it can be considered a pandemic here considering the numbers so far. not that people should not be AWARE of what is going on....but some of this media reporting is borderline ridiculous.

did you hear they landed a plane in NYC or something cuz a woman on there was coughing and showing flu symptoms? she''s already been on the plane for how long with the other people as they all breathe in recycled air? what is up with landing the plane like URGENT landing.

100% agreed Mara. The regular old flu is a pandemic that kills so many people. The average American doesn''t understand scary language like "endemic, epidemic and pandemic" and the media is not helping things.

 

[icekid]

Date: 5/1/2009 5:09:34 PM
Author: Mara
not sure if anyone else has pointed this out but 50k people a year in the US die from regular flu, non-swine. no one ever talks about those numbers.

i don't quite get how it can be considered a pandemic here considering the numbers so far. not that people should not be AWARE of what is going on....but some of this media reporting is borderline ridiculous.

did you hear they landed a plane in NYC or something cuz a woman on there was coughing and showing flu symptoms? she's already been on the plane for how long with the other people as they all breathe in recycled air? what is up with landing the plane like URGENT landing.

as for comparisons to the 1918 flu... well it's almost 100 years later, i would hope that we have better medical technology.

very well-said, Mara. We've had ONE death in the US, in a Mexican (which means she probably got it from the source = stronger virus) baby visiting Texas. This is absolute craziness.

Mostly this makes me worried about people with a mild flu showing up to the ER and infecting my patients who are really sick!

 

[Haven]

We had a last minute all faculty meeting today after school. One of our students has a "probable" case--she tested positive for Influenza A, and we''ll get the results of the swab test back on Monday, so we won''t know until then if it''s Swine Flu.

Our regional office of education decided we will stay open until the case is confirmed, at which point we''ll close the entire school.

While I understand that the cases are extremely mild, I still do not want to get this flu. It is highly contagious, and I don''t feel like potentially getting everyone I know and love sick, even if it isn''t potentially fatal. AND, this is the most important reason I don''t want to get sick--if I do, I won''t be able to visit my dying grandmother until seven days after my symptoms develop. She doesn''t have seven days to spare, and I would never forgive myself if I was ill and missed spending her last few days with her.

SO, if our school isn''t closed before Monday I''m going to call in sick. Being able to visit my grandmother during her last days is far more important than one day of instruction.

 

[luckystar112]

Icekid, that''s interesting about people not taking it very seriously at your work.

Apparently a couple of people in my tiny hometown in Maine were just diagnosed with the Swine flu. They are going crazy up there.

My mom works at the hospital and she said that the doctor''s were panicking once they found out. She said the first person who was confirmed with the flu was put in some sort of negative pressure room or something?!? I wasn''t really listening. I guess representitives from the CDC showed up and that just escalated the panic.
She said that the concern right now isn''t the virus in it''s current form, but how it might mutate in the future?

Keep in mind that my mother is not a doctor and has never even been to med-school.

 

[icekid]

Date: 5/1/2009 8:13:00 PM
Author: luckystar112
Icekid, that''s interesting about people not taking it very seriously at your work.

Apparently a couple of people in my tiny hometown in Maine were just diagnosed with the Swine flu. They are going crazy up there.

My mom works at the hospital and she said that the doctor''s were panicking once they found out. She said the first person who was confirmed with the flu was put in some sort of negative pressure room or something?!? I wasn''t really listening. I guess representitives from the CDC showed up and that just escalated the panic.
She said that the concern right now isn''t the virus in it''s current form, but how it might mutate in the future?

Keep in mind that my mother is not a doctor and has never even been to med-school.

Bizarre! No one here is freaking out or anything remotely close. Mostly they want to keep the mildly to moderately ill people away from the hospital, so we''re setting up "screenings" at the university where all of the cases have been thus far here. Sure the flu can mutate- but it''s been mutating into less harmful strains as you get away from the source. Yeah, any flu people will go in negative pressure rooms, if available (if they need to be in the hospital, and few do.)

CDC reps are pretty much everywhere

 

[TravelingGal]

It''s just ridiculous. I think it''s fine for the media to just keep people posted as to where it''s spreading, but msnbc right now has a story headlined "Many take flu fight into their own hands" with pictures of pharmacy shelves nearly empty. Way to up the panic ante, msnbc.

I swear to bloody hell, I am going to go out tonight to a Mexican taco stand and order carnitas.