Swine Flu

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

No one in Richmond is wearing the mask or anything.

Why should they? I live in walking distance from the HS here in Queens that had a bunch of kids get sick at the beginning. No one I see on the subways have had masks on. My friends who work in public health have said that there's no reason for someone with a pretty decent immune system, or without a history of chronic respiratory illnesses, to get het up about this. Even the doctors I know are pretty chill right now.

[Kevin]

3 in Oklahoma so far.

A good friend of mine loaded up on surgical masks for his office.

"What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!"

[BigRedBeta]

I'd just like to say that I graduated med school last week and my newly minted doctor friends and I have been calling swine flu manbearpig flu for the entirety of the "hysteria"...seriously, more than 35000 people die of "regular" flu every year, which no one seems to care about so much.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

Seriously, more than 35000 people die of "regular" flu every year, which no one seems to care about so much.

YES. The hysteria is killing me.

[RaggedyAnn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wju7F5ytk6M

Here is a video regarding proper sneezing and coughing techniques. Watcher beware.

[utpenguin]

Someone in one of my classes got swine flu. Nobody else has gotten sick in our class even though there's about 100 of us cramped into a classroom in the basement.

My roommate works at a children's hospital and she says it's ridiculous how many people are coming in with minor symptoms. She said the hospital had to go into disaster mode just because of the number of people coming in thinking their kid had swine flu.

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by Jen

Viruses don't die in the summer. Influenza is a year-round problem.

My local news was saying they are predicting this is the first wave of infections, then it will drop off a bit in the summer, then in the fall a second wave with much more widespread infection, and then late winter/early spring next year another wave of it.

That's how the 1918 flu went. The first wave wasn't as deadly as the second wave that came back in the fall.

Which makes me think that maybe it would be better to get the swine flu now than to wait for it to become more deadly this fall?

I have a great-uncle who died of the flu in 1918. My grandma used to tell stories of how they didn't even have much of a funeral for him becuase eveyone was so scared.

[Thetagirl218]

About 70+ cases have been sent to the Florida Department of Health lab for testings. There are several possible cases in Tampa Bay and Orlando. I am actually surprised Florida was one of the first to have cases considering all the tourism.

I had to recommend sending one of my students home yesterday, she looked as pale as death....turns out she has to stay in bed until Monday.

Being a teacher, I see a lot of people get sick, kids and faculty. We have a lot out this week to a stomach virus (me included), but it has nothing to do with the swine flu. There are some people who just over react.

[epchick]

Ahhh everyone I know has been talking about this and how they are so freaked out.

I just look at them like then you should be freaked out about the regular flu too cause it's just as "deadly" as the swine flu. There is medicine that does cover the swine flu, it's not like its this virus that can't be controlled. Grrrrr

[texas*princess]

I'm on the fence about it. I think that it's partly overhyped by the media - On a radio morning show, the main guy was FREAKING OUT about how for every confirmed case there are 10 others that haven't been made 'official' yet because they wait 3 days after getting the results. And how they are running out of Tamiflu, etc. That makes it sound like scary shizz.

On the other hand though, there are other news outlets that are just being reasonable about it - telling ppl to take precautions - wash your hands, don't pick your nose, sneeze into a tissue or your sleeve, etc.

I'm definitely washing my hands way more often than I normally do... just in case. I'm flying home tomorrow and do plan to wear a mask - not to be super paranoid, but being in a tiny space like that for over an hour with 100 other people can be scary when something like this is happening. I don't plan to rock out that mask every where I go though.... just the airplane

I have a friend with family in El Paso -- she said that there are hordes of ppl crossing the border from Mexico over there b/c of the swine flu scare

[epchick]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I have a friend with family in El Paso -- she said that there are hordes of ppl crossing the border from Mexico over there b/c of the swine flu scare

That is totally not true. As far as I know, there hasn't been any confirmed cases of the swine flu here. But I do know that there isn't an exodus of people coming in from Juarez.

Although, my 8th grade cousin did come home crying because her teacher told the class she was leaving b/c the school nurse told her (the teacher) that she has the swine flu. The teacher told my cousin that she probably infected the whole class, and now my cousin is freaked out b/c she's worried her cold will turn into the swine flu. How the school nurse can diagnose the swine flu, idk.