Swine Flu

[Nicki Laycoax]

What are your thoughts on the Swine Flu?

Are you taking extra measures to protect yourself?

Do you know anyone that has been affected? Is it worse than the other strains of the flu that you've seen?

[Jim Cota]

While I think it's *way* too early to tell exactly how formidable this strain will be, I did read a statistic that gave me pause:

"In Mexico, about 70 deaths out of roughly 1,000 cases represents a fatality rate of about 7 percent. The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19, which killed an estimated 40 million worldwide, had a fatality rate of about 2.5 percent."

Again, it's *way* too early for these statistics to have a whole lot of meaning; it will take some time for the statistical analysis to play out and the sample to be large enough to matter. (And it's also possible that a whole lot more than 1,000 people have been infected in Mexico.)

I can tell you that our friends at Harvard Medical School are taking this seriously. One of the doctors I've spoken with there seems certain that this will become a pandemic (if it hasn't already) and they have begun disseminating the information necessary for people to help protect themselves.

You can see some of their information and advice about protecting yourself from swine flu on their site.

Hopefully, we'll get this thing headed off before it becomes a huge problem.

/Jim

[Laura Frank]

I am not a medical doctor, and I am sure the swine flu poses some kind of threat, but to be honest, I'm just washing my hands better and that's it. I never had SARS or bird flu so I kind of feel like it's something that is being blown out of proportion by the media. Hopefully I am right. And hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.

[Erik Deckers]

I used to be the Risk Communication Director at the Indiana State Department of Health. We spent nearly half our time preparing for a flu pandemic.

Here's what I can tell you about how to reduce the risk of catching it. It's what I'm doing right now.

1) Cough into your sleeve or elbow, NOT YOUR HANDS. You can see why at this CoughSafe video.
2) Wash your hands for 20 seconds (sing "Happy Birthday" twice) every time you go to the bathroom or blow your nose. You should do this anyway.
3) Have at least 30 days of food and required medications in your home. If this becomes widespread, the last place you want to be is in a supermarket trying to get enough food for everyone.
4) Avoid public gatherings. If this becomes more contagious, the ISDH will close down schools, sporting events, public gatherings of all kinds.
5) Don't shake hands with anyone. You don't know if they're hand washers. Wave at them, smile, explain that you're being extra cautious. Sure you feel silly, but it beats the alternative.

I've seen several people on Twitter saying the media is just blowing this out of proportion. They COULD be. We could be falling for their hysteria. And maybe I'm being more paranoid than I should be. But like I used to say when I was at the ISDH: "One of us is going to be right. I only hope it's you."

[Kristen Horton]

Thanks for the tips!

[Michael R.]

I have contacted the swine flu but the only symptom I've noticed is that I smell like bacon so I'm not at all unhappy about it. Seriously, I'm a germophobe as it is so there's not much more I can do outside of wearing one of those ridiculous looking surgical masks. More than 30,000 people/year die of flu complications in the U.S. alone, so, I'm not really worried about any Swine Flu.

[Jill Woods]

At our hotel, we are stocking up on Lysol and increasing the number of times public facilities are cleaned. We also have a large hand sanitizer pump at our front desk so guests and employees can use it. Since we also pick up guests from the airport in our van, we are cleaning the van more often and using clorox wipes for door handles and any surfaces touched by guests and employees often.
Maybe it is being overblown by the media, but to have any employees out for 7 days would be very difficult to handle. I would rather avoid any risk.

[Marty posch]

It amazes me how much fear spreads when something like this happens. I mean people immediately think to "The Stand" or something like that. The world freaks out. Yes make sure you are sanitized (why is this more important now?). I dont need a swine flu pandemic to tell me to wash my hands after i go to the bathroom, or use sanitizer. I am fine with taking precautions, but i heard people on the radio this morning saying that they arent going to run the mini marathon because there are alot of people here from all over the world....good lord.

Remember after you take all these precautions to keep yourself clean , that when it is over, just keep doing them, being clean is a good thing.

This is the ONLY bad thing about the world we live in, panic and fear can spread like wildfire based on nothing else than "I know a guy" .

[Matt Barnett]

Thankfully there are smarter people than me working to contain this disease. And people need to be aware. But the sensationalized swine flu coverage needs to be reined in. Last night the news reported how a student at Notre Dame had "the deadly disease." However, it wasn't until after the jump that they let it be known that the guy was already over it. And it didn't stop there. To give a little perspective to the swine flu pandemic, the news did a quick story on "non-swine" flu related deaths - how run-of-the-mill influenza is in itself nothing to sneeze at and in fact much deadlier than regular swine flu. So there are two types of flu now - swine and non-swine? I felt like I was watching the Daily Show or Weekend Update. I'm surprised how they didn't expand it to "non-swine flu" related deaths and included lightning strikes and shark attacks.

Now we see "swine flu survivors" interviewed on morning shows: "I had a headache and was nauseous for a few days." Yeah, you had the flu.

So watch out for that person next to you. They might have non-swine flu, which I'm told is even worse.

[Marty posch]

Hahahaha..that is brilliant and i couldnt agree more. Does this mean that I have to buy more gas masks and duct tape ? I still have some left over from post 9/11

[Erik Deckers]

But keep in mind that this COULD become a big deal. There are already 149 dead in Mexico as a result of this, and we just this morning had our first US death. Now, we HAVE had the milder strain here in the US, but viruses are always mutating and becoming more powerful. All it takes is one tweak in the genetic code, or one fluke spreading of the deadlier version, and this becomes one of the deadliest outbreaks since the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, which killed between 20 - 40 million people worldwide.

When I was at the State Health Department, people would always accuse us of blowing a coming flu pandemic out of proportion. The thing I always said was, "well, one of us is going to be wrong. I hope it's me."

So, until this thing is fully contained, I'm not taking any chances.

[Nicki Laycoax]

Same here... I'm not freaking out by any means, but I do wonder what people think when I cough and am sniffling from the cold that I've got that keeps hanging on... Today at Gleaner's, I had to step away from the tour so I could get a drink and stop coughing... All I kept thinking was, I bet they think I've got Swine Flu. :(

[Marty posch]

Well at least i have an excuse to take a few days off next week..."cough cough"