I received the following email from my university today:

[katia]

Subject: SWINE FLU OUTBREAK

 

...All staff and students are now encouraged to take the following simple precautionary measures which have been shown to be effective in reducing the transmission of all viruses - details of these measures are being posted throughout the School - this information is also being widely disseminated in the national press, on health agency websites and elsewhere:

*       Cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, using a tissue when possible.
*       Dispose of dirty tissues promptly and carefully.
*       Maintain good basic hygiene, for example washing hands frequently with soap and water to reduce the spread of the virus from your hands to face or to other people...

Emphasis mine, because really it is such a novel idea to cover you mouth when sneezing, it would have never occurred to me before! The whole thing is getting a bit ridiculous.

Comments

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Maintain good basic hygiene
I bet you'd have never thought of this on your own otherwise! :sarcastic:

I'm swinging between being majorly annoyed at all the panic-inducing and thinking it's better safe that sorry -- not that BG authorities are prone to much panicking, anyway :)

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

No, but now I know, my life will be changed forever!

I am more annoyed than anything, as I think the way this is reported is not helpful and it is only causing people unnecessary worry. Just out of interest, how is it being reported in BG? Have there been cases there yet?

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

this is reported is not helpful and it is only causing people unnecessary worry
Well, that's certainly true!

It's very moderate here in the news - like, they report progress every night in the evening news, but it's not awfully panicky. They say how there is currently no shortage of the antiviral medications, that the government is taking steps towards stocking more, etc. They put thermo-cameras at the airports to check for sick people.

But just to give you a parallel between the level of flu-stress at your uni and mine, whereas they send you pointless but caring emails, yesterday in the Internal Medicine department there was no soap. So yeah. We have no cases yet and we are being very aloof as we watch the world go by :g:

[lauds.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, your email's way worse than mine! Haha, craziness.

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

I know! I saw yours as soon as I posted mine, and it made me laugh even more. But LSE has a tendency to send ridiculous emails, during the snow it warned us to not walk close to building and beware of falling snow...

[lauds.livejournal.com]

Great minds think alike! Haha, that's hilarious. We just got your bog-standard 'no snowball fights in college' email that everyone gets.

[snakeling]

As someone who has worked with the general public for years, I can tell you that it probably never occurred to some people. I always want to snap "hand in front of mouth" when someone sneezes or coughs in front of me without bothering. I can understand kids not doing it, but adults? It should be a reflex; in fact, I sneezed yesterday without covering my mouth because I was holding something, and it felt really weird (and I directed it at the ground, which some people don't even bother doing). :/

[kuteki.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really is a reflex, but I suppose if people have reached adulthood without learning these things, an email is unlikely to change anything.