Swine flu fun!

[mandaliz8704]

Get your duct tape ready! It's the Aporkalypse!!

[Sheldonrs]

Get your duct tape ready! It's the Aporkalypse!!

[Darkwish]

Coworkers have been talking about this all week. There's a couple guys on my team that remember the swine flu panic of 1976! Here's proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iJLpe1tZl8

As I pointed out to everyone when they were all standing around talking about it - with all the slobs that work there, swine flu would sweep through the building like the plague.

Corporate has sent a bunch of emails about it, but I didn't bother to read it. From what I've seen/heard about it so far, the swine flu still hasn't reached the numbers that the regular flu has each year. Until I see something more concrete, it's just hype, paranoia and media scare tactics.

On a side note to that, I overheard today that we're ending all items that claim to cure the swine flu or try to use the hype to sell their products, per request of the FDA and CDC.

[fireheart]

Coworkers have been talking about this all week. There's a couple guys on my team that remember the swine flu panic of 1976! Here's proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iJLpe1tZl8

As I pointed out to everyone when they were all standing around talking about it - with all the slobs that work there, swine flu would sweep through the building like the plague.

Corporate has sent a bunch of emails about it, but I didn't bother to read it. From what I've seen/heard about it so far, the swine flu still hasn't reached the numbers that the regular flu has each year. Until I see something more concrete, it's just hype, paranoia and media scare tactics.

On a side note to that, I overheard today that we're ending all items that claim to cure the swine flu or try to use the hype to sell their products, per request of the FDA and CDC.

Try having the hype and scare tactics in a country that hasn't had any deaths yet!
But I wonder....would the supposed "cure" items for swine flu contain Pedi-Egg foot filings?

[Seshat]

I checked the USA's Centre for Disease Control, and the World Health Organisation's websites. This is a translation-from-the-geek, and a bit of expansion on the material there.

Use this information yourself, pass it on to anyone you know who's panicking.



If you live in a country that's had a severe outbreak*:
- Keep an eye on the local news regarding public gatherings & school closings.
- Get some paper or cloth face masks, and if you get any coughing/sneezing type illness, wear a mask. (Even if you don't have THIS flu, there's no point in spreading a cold or a flu and giving swine flu weakened members of the community to lodge in.)
- Be prepared to stock up on sensible lasting foods/medications, in case your country's CDC-equivalent needs to call for semi-quarantine in your region. (If they do need to call a full quarantine, they'll probably organise food themselves.)
- Avoid having optional or unnecessary medical procedures done if they might weaken your ability to fight illness.
- US residents: keep an eye on http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/ (And it's a good source of advice for the rest of us.)



Everyone:
Now is the time to train yourself to always cough or sneeze into a tissue, and throw the tissue away.
Now is the time to train yourself never to touch your face without having first washed your hands or used a sanitiser.
If you've been putting off seeing a doctor about anything that might weaken your ability to fight illness, do it now.


* (91 in the USA, 26 in Mexico as at this date, watch http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/)


General info on influenzas



Influenzas can produce devastating epidemics and pandemics. At this point, the swine flu is only the threat of a pandemic - nothing to worry about or panic over, just enough to go 'hmmm, am I doing what I can to keep us all safe'.

Preventing a pandemic is ultimately our responsibility - the CDC, WHO and equivalent organisations can control a pandemic, but they can't control our actions at the individual-human level. Their strongest tool is to lock an infected part of the community into a quarantine and let the disease run its course there - and that's hideously unpleasant for everyone involved.

The most pleasant form of pandemic prevention is for as many members of the community as possible to make themselves ineligible as hosts for the disease-carrying organism. And the way to do that is to be as healthy as possible, and train yourself never to carry the organism to any entry point to the body.

In other words: see the doctor about anything that might weaken your immunity; wash your hands frequently; never touch any body-entry-point except with just-washed hands.

It's not a guarantee. Some organisms are airborne, and you'll just breathe them in. Some are damned tenacious and will make their way in somehow. But influenza relies on droplet transmission, and you CAN wash the droplets off your hands.

[edible_hat]

I'm not sure what it is, but something about this swine flu scare doesn't seem kosher to me.

needs more rimshot.

[Kagato]

If you're travelling somewhere that you may be at risk of swine flu, don't forget your OINKment >_>

*hears boos and groans all around*

Seriously though, even here in NZ there is confirmed cases of Swine Flu, including 3 students from a group of 20 high-school students that were in Mexico around the time of the initial outbreaks. The airport has also been screening people coming in from set locations and has quarantined 5 more people.

My workplace is taking the matter seriously, saying that hopefully they will not need to take any major measures, but if any particularly serious pandemic matters are announced here in NZ, they will be issuing us with face-masks to wear on our buses, if we were to get infected, it would spread like wildfire due to the widespread use of the bus services.

[AirHostess]

My airline has left crew stranded in Mexico City. Why am I not surprised.

Apparently flights there may be suspended, cue lots of angry passengers. Idiots. Maybe they would rather get swine flu than have their flights cancelled and money refunded.

[artifical sweetner]

Didn't ya know? The flu can lead to death and the corpses being reanimated.

It's the Zombie Flu!

omg i was disappointed it was a swine flu pandemic and not a zombie outbreak

[finlayfox]

in regards to the swine flu...

warning, post is rather long.
so last night i had gone back to work after traveling to denver to take a customs and border patrol test thingie. Anyway, the pollen here is currently insane, so i randomly have an itchy throat/runny nose.
so, i was taking an order at a table, and felt a need to sneeze, which i did into my shoulder.
The lady i was serving on then asked me if i had been traveling. not thinking, i said yes. this was a bad... bad...really bad thing to do.
she immediately gets up and goes over to the bartender, and asks to see a manager.
upon the bossman's arrival, she starts to yell at him for having me work when i had been traveling and had just come back from Mexico(where did she get that from?!?!?!)
Of course, my boss knew i had gone to Denver, and tried to tell her this... she does not listen and continues to yell at him. Basically saying that she demands a new server and i am not to get within x amount of yards of her, her food, her firstborn child, her nanny, her postal worker and her pet groomer(ok, so only the first 2 were real demands)
Now, i still had my test confirmation time/date and location in my vehicle... so i retrieve it(which takes about 30 seconds). upon my return, she has returned to the table but was still talking loudly about almost being served on by someone with swine flu(also just so you guys know... there are zero cases in either colorado or nebraska).
well, i go on over to my CW that has now been burdened with this woman... and try to convince her to show it to miss crazy woman. My CW wisely disagreed which i knew she would but had to try.
Time for Plan B(i was bored and pissed) - give evidence to manager in case hypochondriac woman demanded some sort of deduction for her perceived grievances. well she does(MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!).
so manager goes over to her armed with my slip of paper with a nice little CBP stamp on it as well as my name.
funny, as soon as he showed that to her she shut up rather quickly and demurely paid her tab.

[Boozy]

Oh, brother. This lady's going to give herself a heart attack, freaking out about stuff like this. Swine flu is last on a very long list of things she should be worried about.

[AnaKhouri]

What a bitch!

At work one of the managers put bottles of that hand cleaner stuff (Purell is the brand name, I think?) to alleviate people's fears about swine flu. I neglected to tell her what my husband (a biochemist who has worked extensively with viruses) told me: that stuff always has ethanol in it, and while it works on bacteria, viruses love ethanol and thrive in it. Unsurprisingly, people always overdo it and not 48 hours after she put them out the bottles are all almost empty. I wish I could tell them it's useless.

[ShootMePlease]

Some asshole came in my store today wearing surgical gloves. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in his face. Now, if I had been wearing them, I wonder how many customers would have gotten offended because they would think I didn't want to touch them ?

[Erin]

They're reporting on Omaha tv stations today that Nebraska has one H1N1 (Swine) flu case that's been confirmed. (some guy from San Diego visiting friends) and there's two suspected cases.

The Nebraska governor announced a public health emergency this afternoon so that they can get the money and medication and things set up just in case the pandemic-apocalypse happens.

[sarasquirrel]

they had to close school in my town for 2 days, because of a "suspected" case.

i've had the past 2 days off, and was told that my store has sold out of sanitizer and masks.

i will laugh at someone if i see them wearing a mask. the only ones who should wear it are the ones already sick!!