May 04 2009

Monday Musings: A Flu of Pandemic Proportions

Posted in All Posts, Everyday Life, Monday Musings

On my way into work Friday morning, I walked past a lady who was out walking her dog.  I believe I’ve seen her out before because I recognized the furry little guy on the leash.  But I barely recognized the woman because her entire face was covered by a mask.

At first I wondered why on earth she was wearing a surgical mask while walking the streets of Arlington, VA, but then I remembered the swine flu and it made a little more sense.  I don’t think (at least I hope) that we’re not quite to the point of having to wear masks, but maybe I’m wrong.

I mean look at what happened in 1918 when the flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide.

flu-pandemic

(wikipedia)

It’s hard to imagine something like that happening especially when these days we’re able to get a flu shot every year to try to ward off the illness, but I guess there’s always that possibility.  The good news is that there is medicine that can be used to treat the swine flue such as Tamiflu or Relenza and other antiviral drugs.  The bad news is that this flu has hit some areas really hard and even caused some deaths.

Given all of this, it’s easy to understand why people are getting concerned.  At work on Friday we sent a notice to our employees reminding them to use precautions and wash their hands, cover sneezes and stay  home if sick.   In other areas where the virus has been found, schools and other businesses have closed and sent workers home.  The map below (from PanedimcFlu.gov) shows which states have found cases of the flu in their borders.  Just this weekend they found some cases in Virginia.

I don’t know at what rate the number of cases are growing here in the States, but I can understand why people are being cautious.  So yes, the lady walking her dog looked a little odd, but maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea after all.  Hopefully we won’t get to that point, but it would be nice to have a mask on hand just in case.

Are you nervous about the current conditions?  What are you doing to protect your family?


 

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Janet - May 4, 2009 - 6:01 am

I’m not really nervous, just taking sensible precautions. Washing my hands more often and using hand cleaner if I can’t get to soap and water. I’ve seen a few folks in masks here at work. Does it seem like the media is hyping things up a bit too much?

The Wife of Odie - May 4, 2009 - 7:01 am

I’m not too worried. I think it’s dying down some. Or at least I hope. But it’s a good reminder to be sure to wash our hands!

The Wife of Odie´s last blog post..being childlike

Kristina - May 4, 2009 - 7:26 am

I think that the media does a fabulous job of blowing things out of proportion, and it looks like things aren’t that big of a deal, and things have subsided.

36,000 people die of the regular flu every year.

Kristina´s last blog post..It’s The End of the World As We Know It, and I Feel Swine

Mom of 5 - May 4, 2009 - 8:03 am

It’s definitely a concern but not wreaking out about it. Using common sense caution (washing hands and staying away from those that are ill, etc). Trying to get ready for a more serious and threathening pandemic – one will be coming in the future. Hope that all my family is preparing for that as well. It’s hard to realize just how much our daily lives will be changed by a real pandemic.

Glad that this one appears not to be one!!!

admin - May 4, 2009 - 8:15 am

I agree with you guys and I’m not to worried for now. I do worry about little kids who go to school and daycares and such since they seem to so easily spread things, but I don’t know how you would stop that. Kristina – I had no idea so many people die from the flu each year? wow

Ambulance Mommy - May 4, 2009 - 8:23 am

Oh Tabitha, you got me going :) I’m tired of being the voice of reason in my office, and I think I just snapped!! HAHA!!!

more people die in car accidents EVERY SINGLE DAY than have been killed by swine flu world wide. Why isn’t there a media feeding frenzy about that? Why aren’t people driving safer or doing something like wearing a mask to stop that?

My take on the swine flu is this: If you aren’t immuno-compromised, and you take basic precautions like, say, washing your hands, then you will be probably be just fine. If folks actually LISTENED to the fact that 99% of the people aren’t even hospitalized (i actually spoke to 3 “probable” cases this weekend, and they felt 100% better only 2 days after their minor flu symptoms started) then they might get the fact that the media has blown this WAY out of proportion, and that people are getting ridiculous about this!!

Now, if folks are immuno-compromised, sure, I can understand them taking some extra precautions, but they should be taking extra precautions every single day. Perhaps the lady with the mask in your neighborhood has something else going on? The folks that this H1N1 virus has killed…they were most likely immuno-compromised people: elderly, the very young, and those who have additional medical concerns (cancer/leukemia, poor kidneys, HIV, name your posion) Or the biggest cause of death could be no access to medical care like we have in our country.

H1N1 a strain of the flu virus. Which has also killed more people this year alone than this hyped up version. Virus’ mutate. It’s a fact of life. If we find a “cure” for this flu, another one will be right behind it.

It must have been a crazy slow news week, and somehow this tiny thing took off and became a frenzy.

I am so glad I dont work at the CDC right now. I would be banging my head against a brick wall repeadedly. :) Working at a place where there are now 7 probable cases is bad enough.

I do hope I didn’t offend anyone, I didn’t mean to come off sarcastic or even heartless. I guess I’m just dealing with it day in and day out, and my brain is on overload! :)

Ambulance Mommy´s last blog post..Would you like to know what a dispatch nightmare looks like?

Meg - May 4, 2009 - 8:32 am

I work in the health care industry, but I’m not a health care practictioner (that’s the disclaimer), but what I’ve heard so far is that the biggest danger with H1N1 is when a patient gets really sick with it and it’s left untreated and leads to something worse, like pneumonia. What it seems is that the large number of deaths in Mexico (very sad) are largely due to people not seeking medical attention. So no, I’m not worried. Not now, at least. But I was more than a little nervous a week or so ago when the news first started coming out of Mexico!

Meg´s last blog post..It’s in!

erin - May 4, 2009 - 8:57 am

Not nervous… I think the media really does blow things out of proprtion. 168 people have died in Mexico so far, sure. 7,000 people have died in Mexico so far this year from drug violence. More of my clients have died so far this year than have been sickened by swine flu in the US so far. I’m not sure I quite understand just yet why this is such a big deal, since we don’t make as big of a deal over regular flu each year, even during flu season.

Even pregnant, I’m pretty healty and I don’t consider myself immunocompromised. So life just continues as normal.

erin´s last blog post..nesting like nobody’s business

Terra - May 4, 2009 - 9:01 am

I was really worried because of having a little one at home and being pregnant… but ther eare no confirmed cases in our county, and the news is starting to say that we shouldn’t be as concerned as long as we are taking proper precautions. We are just washing our hands more, avoiding anybody that seems to be under the weather… and that’s about it. :)

Terra´s last blog post..Noah and Lexi

Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com - May 4, 2009 - 9:03 am

Totally not nervous at all.

First of all, we’ve been through the swine flu panic before in 1976 and the immunizations caused more widespread harm than the actual disease. I’ve been using that example for YEARS when people freak out about the disease du jour. Shouldn’t we have learned by now to calm down and be aware as opposed to flipping out? Seriously, we aren’t talking about Ebola or Marburg here, the swine flu doesn’t have a 98% kill rate and it doesn’t spread like wildfire.

Secondly, most of the people who have died from the swine flu have lived in worse conditions and had significantly worse health than most people in America do. Contracting the disease does not mean immediate, inevitable death. If you were already sickly or your immune system were weakened, okay, I understand acting a little reclusive. But if you’re a healthy adult? Not so much.

Thirdly, alot of worse things come from Mexico. I love our southern neighbor and the people and culture it produces, don’t get me wrong, but if we’re going to worry about something? How about the 2-3 immigrants per day who are kidnapped in relation to the drug war in the southwestern states? Most of them will die, which affects a wide array of individuals. Isn’t that a larger, more far-reaching problem than the few hundred TOTAL people who MAY have contracted swine flu? Most of them will live.

Fourth, well, right now the numbers are small. I know the fear is that SOMEONE has to contract the disease after the last person and that as it spreads the numbers become larger and by the time it’s an epidemic, it’s too late to do anything. But it’s highly unlikely that it will get to that point and right now you’re more likely to win the lottery or find a snake in your toilet than you are to contract the swine flu.

I found a snake in my toilet almost two weeks ago. So I think I’m good.

Briony - May 4, 2009 - 9:26 am

i’ve been washing my hands more often and avoiding contact with anyone that has been coughing but aside from that i am living life like normal. wearing a mask isn’t all that appealing to me but i guess you do what you do to stay safe. i heard that the flu wasn’t airborne though.

Briony´s last blog post..she’s on her way

Jenna @ Newlyweds - May 4, 2009 - 9:39 am

I live in Texas near the only reported death of a child. And I personally think this is being blown way out of proportion. On Average 100 people die everyday from the regular old flu in the US. There has only been 1 death and people are frantic. I agree good hand washing and other sanitary practices are very important but I think the media is going crazy with this and scaring everyone.

Jenna @ Newlyweds´s last blog post..Walgreens week 5/3-5/9

admin - May 4, 2009 - 9:41 am

Ambulance Mommy – I was definitely counting on you to give us your input! :) As always, you have great information!

Jenny - May 4, 2009 - 10:03 am

I agree that it’s way over-hyped. The fact that most of the people with this flu don’t have to be hospitalized to get better. But it’s hit close to home.

My nieces school is closed this week b/c there is a probable case at their school.

Even that seems a little extreme to me — to close a school of 500 kids for a whole week because of one “probable” (not confirmed) case. Although I’m sure my nieces will like the vacation and having their grandma babysit.

Jenny´s last blog post..Thankful Thursday…

Elise - May 4, 2009 - 10:34 am

I bave heard that a mask only helps if you are sick not to spread the virus to other, but not to save yourself from getting it if you are healty.

Geneil - May 4, 2009 - 10:57 am

Our neighborhood elementary school is one of two schools in Indianapolis that is closed until May 11 due to a confirmed case of the swine flu. My daughter happens to go to another school in the district and my son is in high school, so so far it has not affected their schools–and I hope it doesn’t. Closing schools does seem to be an extreme measure, not to mention very inconvenient, considering how mild this flu has turned out to be in the US.

However, my husband is a hospital administrator and has been in numerous meetings with the health department and other officials in the past week or so. The thing about H1N1 is that it is a totally new strain of flu (in humans) and no one–young, old, healthy, or sickly–has any immunity to it. Also, new strains mutate rapidly so no one really knows where this thing is going. Yes 36,000 people die every year of the regular flu–and that’s with vaccines. If health officials had not acted so aggressively and H1N1 had turned out to be more serious, then the public would be clamoring about why they hadn’t warned us and taken action sooner.

Hope this week is better for you, BTW :)

Courtney - May 4, 2009 - 11:50 am

Maybe I’m naive. I’m not worried about the outbreak. I’m hardly ever sick, with the exception of the common cold. So I know I have a healthy immune system. And I tend to not worry about things too much unless is full reason to be in a panic. But there isn’t yet. At least not for me. How can one enjoy life and living if they are in a constant state of worry and paranoia?

Courtney´s last blog post..Phil Wickham

Heidi - May 4, 2009 - 11:59 am

I SECOND AMBULANCE MOMMY! G.D. MEDIA. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

See how irked I am? I’m typing in CAPS.

Heidi´s last blog post..High coo!

Sam - May 4, 2009 - 12:05 pm

A friend put the stats to me this way…
Why is it that when there are only 226 confirmed cases out of a population of 306 million people that many folks assume they will fall into the smaller category?

I’m not worried, but at the same time, I feel that it doesn’t hurt for us to be a little more diligent about covering sneezes and coughs and hand washing. If anything, it will help stave off the brewing sinus infections that often follow people’s seasonal allergy flareups this time of year.

I was actually a little offended when someone declined to shake hands (even though neither of us felt ill at all) at a social gathering the other day. :(

admin - May 4, 2009 - 3:56 pm

I had no idea that the issue has been covered so much in the media – apparently I need to watch the news more. I catch snippets here and there but have no idea what’s really going on. It’s a good thing you guys are here to give me a reality check. :)

Melody C. - May 4, 2009 - 4:26 pm

My bigger concern is that I’m living on an Air Force base where I will be in casual contact (shopping, gym) with people who have just come from all over the US (and beyond) and will bring germs that aren’t native to my breathing space! Worse, my husband will work in close contact with them and then come home! Boot camp flu is well known and can be dangerous, but I’m with Ambulance Mommy.

When I worked as a travel agent I constantly had to talk down fearful fliers…please, a plane crash here and there (since the 1950s) still doesn’t add up to the number of car crash fatalities on any given DAY.

Michelle @ Find Your Balance - May 4, 2009 - 5:46 pm

You know how many people die of AIDS yet people won’t wear condoms? But the flu and everyone grabs a mask. Odd, huh?

Michelle @ Find Your Balance´s last blog post..Homemade pockets of delicious

Melody C. - May 4, 2009 - 6:36 pm

Wow Michelle! You are SOOOOO right!

Heather @ alis grave nil - May 4, 2009 - 6:46 pm

I think it must be worse out here in California. More ebb and flow with Mexico, and people were freaking out. I don’t think it was merited though. I teach school and I have to say even though there’s a huge chance of me catching a regular flu, I wasn’t any more worried about this recent thing. Seems like media fear mongering and hype to me.

Heather @ alis grave nil´s last blog post..Book smell (and a giveaway!)

Joanna - May 5, 2009 - 4:06 am

(Yeah! Internet’s back at my house!!)

Anyway … I haven’t been more worried about this type of flu than I am about any other during flu season. I wash my hands constantly anyway and hand sanitizer is always within reach. I would rather my children didn’t get it, but if they do, I’m not going to start planning their funerals or anything (I’ll be too busy cleaning up vomit and poop!)

All that to say, I think it’s been blown out of proportion, too. We had one suspected case in a middle-schooler here in town and schools are closing for a week(!) and churches canceled communion. No masks that I’ve seen, though!

Joanna´s last blog post..Flickr

V. Higgins - May 5, 2009 - 8:32 am

It’s good to be cautious and I’m glad that the WHO and the government are taking precautions to minimize the chance of a serious pandemic (even if it might just be serious CYA). That said…
I agree that the media has blown this crazily out of porportion. (like they do *everything else*, seriously, media fast will cut down your stress :-P ). I always wash my hands multiple times a day, use tissues, sneeze into elbows, etc. So I tend to look at this as just another bug going around and hopefully by exercising and eating well my immune system will be able to fend it off. And even if I did catch it I wouldn’t be worried about dying, I have a great doctor and they’ve proven that Tamiflu works to bring you back around. So I really don’t see what all the hullaballo is about.
Maybe focusing on being healthy in the first place (whole foods, keeping active) would be a *much* better use of our time than worrying.

Jamie - May 5, 2009 - 6:55 pm

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 50 million! It actually killed up to 100 million people worldwide in 18 months. Have you ever thought about footnoting your sentences? That way we can verify your sources. Might be helpful to both you and the reader. . .

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