Swine flu fun!

[Bright_Star]

Hygiene for the SC's

The other day at Sam's Club we had a meeting stating that maintenance MUST wash each & every door handle in the place every hour on the hour to protect people from the Swine Flu. Also that we must have hand sanitizers all over the place for everyone to use. What's wrong with just washing your hands with good old soap & water?
I don't have a problem doing this but it seems to me that this flu thing is being hyped up wayyyyyyy beyond proportion. We've had members come in wearing masks! That's all fine & dandy BUT sooner or later they gotta take off those stupid things to eat & whatever & then what? Gobble their food like crazy & be in a panic to put on a mask?
You can substitute "Bird Flu" with "Swine Flu" & it's the same nonsense about that a few years ago.
They tack on a descriptive name next to "Flu" & all of a sudden people are panicking out of their minds & not thinking straight. It's like the media wants them to panic. "Yeah, that's it, panic like the good sheep you are!"
I figure IF by the remote chance that I do get the swine flu then I'll go to the hospital & get treated for it there accordingly.
Sam's Club wants the workers to practice safe hygiene BUT what about the dirty slobs who come in the store & pass their nastiness all around? You've seen it-someone comes in sick who makes a worker sick then the store ends up with half the people sick as dogs.

[edible_hat]

I read the article & I also saw just how long it took high concentrations of Ethanol to inactive viruses, especially human influenza virus.
I'm not sure of the percentage of Ethanol in those gels...is it likely to be 60% pharmaceutical grade Ethanol?
Besides, people just don't have those hand gels on for the 2 minutes+ it took.

Solution: ensure your body contains 60% ethanol at all times.

In SA (South Australia folks, not Sacramento), there are seven suspected, no confirmed cases as far as I know (edible or Ny, can you guys confirm?), but following that...

Last I heard, the closest thing we have to a case in SA is an Adelaide-born man found sick in London. The health department said that Australia's great distance from most places means that any infected people will be showing symptoms by the time they arrive, and the thermal imaging will catch them and they can put them in quarrantine quickly.

[sarasquirrel]

ugh west nile. thankfully never got it, but it comes up here every summer. every night another story about it

[BethB]

I have the Chocolate Flu. stay away!!! Seriously, It's waaaay out of control.

[joe hx]

i think the new name "H1N1 flu" looks too much like "hiny flu"

every hour on the hour? why don't you just pass out decontamination suits to your customers? send them in those fancy decontamination shower thingies

[Calie]

OMG the SWINE FLU!?!?!?!?! <-- one of my coworkers and I say that to each other at least once a day making fun of our coworkers freaking out.

Gah! Half my coworkers keep trolling the news and fastening on every rumor. I swear at least once an hour I hear a "Hey did you hear <insert media hype>?"

And funnily, the person freaking out the most is the girl who (one week before the swine flu "hit") came to work sick with what was a nasty virus or flu. She kept coming to work, got others sick, and even scared me into thinking I might have come down with it (I didn't).

Oh, and there is absolutely nothing in my industry that is even remotely connected to the swine flu or affected industries like airlines, so really, no need to panic. HR's official stance on this: if you feel sick or have a fever STAY THE F*** HOME! Sounds sensible to me.

[SG15Z]

You know what would really flip people out? A chicken flu! Now that would cause panic.... I should alert the media!

[The Last to Know]

I've been hearing those same reactions at places around here. Daycare centers buying hand sanitizer in bulk & checking all the kids temps three times a day. As posted someplace on the board - hand sanitizer does squat to protect against this & it's really getting ridiculous. One of my news stations was doing a question & answer type thing with about 6 people answering the phones & they actually showed one poor phone answerer rolling her eyes at probably a VERY stupid question. I was ROFLMAO

[crazylegs]

Mod Note

All piggy flu type stuff merged, should help to prevent duplication...

[Rapscallion]

Wow...now even the biggest douchebag celebrity couple, Spencer and Heidi,

Who?

Seriously, who?

Rapscallion

[lordlundar]

Solution: ensure your body contains 60% ethanol at all times.

I think there's a term for that. Oh yeah, there is. Embalmed.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think there's a term for that. Oh yeah, there is. Embalmed.

I thought it was "Keith Richards".

[Kogarashi]

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.

I mentioned this to my husband (molecular biology PhD student), and he's curious what viruses your husband works with. They use ethanol to sterilize things in their lab, and he's never heard of viruses thriving in it.

Anyway, all the research I've done on it says that hand sanitizers, even ethanol-based ones, are just as effective as handwashing. The thing is, they're really no more effective than handwashing, so it's really kind of a lazy man's way out.