>Flu Fright
>When I was at the airport yesterday waiting for my plane, a woman at a nearby desk kept sneezing and sniffling.
I moved.
I also tried to touch as little as possible, which left me balancing precariously on escalators in my cork wedge shoes, and standing on the Orlando airport shuttle train as though it were a surfboard.
Ridiculous? Yes. But while I’m trying to stay calm, this swine flu, or R2D2 or whatever they’re calling it now, has me a little nervous. After all, it’s popped up in Nashville, just a few minutes away from where I live.
So in the comments, please tell me what you’re doing to combat swine flu. Particularly if it’s ridiculous. I’m all about the funny. But I do want to know I’m not the only one sweating over this thing. Sweating because I’m nervous, I mean. Not because I have a fever or anything. I DO NOT HAVE SWINE FLU, PEOPLE.
>Oh my gosh…don’t even get me started on the swine flu. 3 cases here in Indiana and I’m totally on edge. I’m already a germ-o-phobe! sheesh!I’ve been tracking it on the CDC website…obsessively…did I mention I’m totally OCD too? lolMy husband thinks I’m insane…my co-workers give me grief constantly. I work at a pharmacy…so I’m always in contact with sick people.Every bottle of hand sanitizer is gone off of our shelves…so CLEARLY I’m not the only one freaking out.I wish people would stay the hell home when they’re sick…then maybe…just MAYBE this would calm down and fizzle out! GRR!
>I’m not worried about the swine flu at all. In fact, they canceled a local school’s senior prom because of a “scare” and I think that is just WRONG!! Those poor kids are missing out on the one event, except for graduation, that every HS kid looks forward to from the first nerve-wracking day of their freshman year. Although, I would have to admit that if I was traveling in an airplane and saw someone coughing and sneezing all over the place I may get a little tense and spend the whole flight covering my mouth with my shirt and slathering on the anti-bacterial hand gel! π
>I’m not in full blown panic mode yet. Still in waiting. If it gets bad I have a plan to create giant bubbles for my family to use when we need to leave home. If I get to this point I’ll be sure to send pictures π
>Funny you should mention it…I just posted to my blog last night about my Swine Flu reaction, specifically my Groceries of Mass Panic.http://sarcasticjenn.blogspot.com/2009/04/groceries-of-mass-panic.html
>I’m not so worried about Swine flu. I’ve always been kind of cautious…not holding on railings, wiping carts down with sanitizer wipes first, if shaking hands, turning around and making sure I use sanitizer. I wouldn’t so much say thats protection from swine flu, vs. everyday common colds too.
>I’m not worried (yet). I’m a SAHM, and we pretty much just go to the grocery store and to church activities. If I hear of anyone I know being sick, we’ll try to stay home even more. But I don’t try to keep my kids away from germs; if they’re exposed, they’ll be more resistant, IMO. (Now watch, we’ll all get it!)
>I think it’s totally overblown and hyped up. I am not worried at all. They don’t close down schools when the regular flu is going around. Many people die each year from influenza.The only people that have died from swine flu have been the very young, very old or those that do not have access to medical care. Sure, I’ll be careful and would not want someone sneezing on me. However even when there isn’t the threat of swine flu I don’t want people sneezing on me. Gross!
>I disinfected my groceries yesterday because the cashier informed me that her son’s school is closed due to flu AFTER she handled all of my food. I feel much better now.
>I'm not really doing TOO much. It's a couple counties away right now, but I don't know. I don't want to be paranoid. IF any of us start to show signs, then we'll handle it. <—- Guess I should figure out what the symptoms are. lol.That is THE funniest exchange between you and your daughter. I *loathe* the 'why' stage. Although, my daughter is almost 8 and she still asks the dumbest…..I mean, pointless or obvious…questions. But that exchange was HILARIOUS. Why is why??
>I think that the regular flu is getting a bad rap. So far this year it has killed 13,000 people. Swine flu? One. So suck it swine flu!!!!!!!!
>I’m not too worried about the swine flu. While the pigs make me a little nervous, I have always been convinced that its the chickens who will do us in at the end!
>I’m basically ignoring the Swine Flu. No one I know is sick, and if I wind up getting sick (unlikely), then I’ll stay home, drink plenty of fluids, and rest. My advice? Don’t kiss any pigs. (Of course, that’s always good advice.)
>What I’ve learned from a few Mexican friends is that they do not have the flu season there so this is really bad for them. The US on the other hand has it’s regular snot-fest every year so it’s just like any old flu for us. I’m not very upset about it…just trying to stay remotely clean. I will say that since they have started calling it H1N1, that looks a lot like hini, so I’m calling it the Hini (Hiny) virus. Let’s see if that takes off.
>I’m going to Hong Kong on Monday. I was feeling smug because Asia was untouched until yesterday when an infected 25 year old decided to sight see in Shanghai, then Hong Kong. Now HK is in super sensitive mode – IE – if your on a plane with a contaminated person your hotel will go into lock down mode. There will be giant sensors in the airport to check temperature and retina scans and going into China – if I make it that far scanning procedures will likely be worse. And if I somehow get the virus, can you imagine getting interrogated by the Chinese police as to who you’ve been in contact with every step of the way??? I got tamiflu pills, hand sanitizer and face masks.
>I live in Orlando, and I’m acting like there’s nothing going wrong. Denial is awesome!!How long are you here for?Rachel B. http://rachelboldman.blogspot.com
>Yeah, I’m the freak that sent my kids to school not feeling great this week. One with diarrhea, one with the sniffles. Granted, neither had a fever or any of the other symptoms, nor is there any reason for them to have the swine flu, but still. I’m sure the secretary at the school thought I was stupid, or crazy, or both.
>I use the same general precautions I always use during flu season.This time out, though, I’m adding a couple extra precautions:1. I’m not getting on ANYTHING public transportation, if there’s a risk that the Vice President is on it; that kind of stupidity might be contagious.2. If I see a bird and pig get together, I shoot ’em.
>I worry a little about the swine flu mainly because I’m just getting over pneumonia and we don’t really know what itβs going to transform into 100% yet. People here in OH are completely flipping out and 2 people in my area that I know of have been tested itβs yet to be seen what their results are. I guess it is the scariest to me because there isn’t a day lately where someone in my family hasn’t had at least one of the f1n1 symptoms. I will not be riding public transportation or going to Dr Offices or any other high risk areas until I feel like my body could withstand fighting off yet another illness. Knowing my luck my kindergartener will bring it home to me!
>I’m getting on a plane Wednesday and my husband insists I wear a mask. So I went to three pharmacies before I finally find one that wasn’t sold out of them. But… and there’s always a B U T — They only had one big box of masks and they were selling them INDIVIDUALLY– As in (cough) stick your dirty hand (sniffle) into the box (sneeze) and count out how many (wipe your nose) masks you want, then (cough again) and pay the smarmy (runny nosed) clerk, who then (after blowing his nose) picks up the (scratch, scratch) masks and puts them in (sneeze) a bag and then tells you to (WTF?!?) have a nice day. I swear to gawd! That’s exactly how it happened.
>I’m not doing much to PREVENT the swine flu, but I do stick a thermometer in my mouth every time I sneeze, cough, blink, or breathe. Forget prevention…I’m all about detection. π
>Start teaching her physics formulas to combat the questions. Get her thinking about the really big questions, now- who knows, you might be raising the next Einstein. π I’ve put divergence equations up in Dylan’s room, just in case. You never know.
>I share an office with a girl who just came back from 10 days in Mexico City. I have lupus which means my immune system is already compromised. I have had a fever for 3 days (when I NEVER get fever because my normal body temp is 97 degrees), headache, sore throat, body aches etc…Yet I still am not worried about the H1N1 virus. Oh that AND my husband’s work was cleared out due to a suspected case of H1N1 virus AND there have been 2 confirmed cases around here. Still not worried…
>Over here at ground zero for Texas it seems, I am several of my friends decided to do Swine Flu up with some fun. Day one — Margarita’s at a local restraunt with all our kiddo’s and a couple of bottles of sanitizer! Day two — Margarita’s at a friends house! Can you see a theme? After all if the alcohol in hand sanitizer kills the virus, why not the tequila? π hahaha Our schools are close till the 11th, no parks are open, no library, no kids museum, no church services today….What’s left to do with stircrazy kids? Drink! π hahaha Tomorrow’s agenda? Margarita Mommy Monday! π hahaha
>I haven’t gone to any extremes, but I am being really mindful of washing my hands A LOT! I’ve been concentrating more on how we are handling it at church (where I’m the exec director). I’ve heard of churches canceling communion and stuff like that. Our children’s ministry was on excessive sanitize duty today.
>I’m not that worried. People die from the regular flu all the time. BUT, my throat is starting to get sore and it’s kinda creeping me out a bit. Like I’m kinda tempted to gargle with some lysol atm. perhaps I should have been worried ha ha.
>I’m keeping a mask on my razorback tattoo.
>I basically just wash my hands more to prevent getting the swine flu. I make my kids do the same. They are not amused. My son keeps going, “But I didn’t just use the bathroom!” when I tell him to wash his hands. Because in the past, that was the only time he really washed them.
>We are just not sweating it over here. SAHM who homeschools….we never leave the house….lol.
>I’m doing nothing. Well nothing aside from the usual, which involves washing my hands when the feel dirty. And I’m avoiding swine.
>What am I doing for the aporkalypse? Well, it’s hard to say, really. Mostly I’m doing… um, nothing. It’s just the flu. I don’t do anything special for the regular flu (don’t even get vaccinated!) so why should I care about the pig part of this one?
>We’ve got a total of about 90 combined probable and confirmed cases in my county here in Texas. My random gerb phobia has always been shopping carts. So I can now be seen cruising through Wal-mart with our jogging stroller instead of using a cart. My kids are so much calmer in the stroller, I might even do this after the phobia has passed.