PSA on a public health emergency

[lagilman]

Outbreaks are not pandemics, pandemics are not all OMG Everyone's Going to Die! and this is not 1918.

That said, and speaking as someone who is recovering from a thankfully mild bout of flu, I'm going to remind you of four really important, really basic steps to remember:

1. Wash your hands. Seriously. With soap and hot water and everything, especially if you're using mass transit or shared bathrooms. That's the most common way germs are transmitted, and the easiest to prevent. Wash your hands, cough into the corner of your elbow, not your hands (to prevents transferring germs that way), and wash, wash, wash. Especially if you think you've already got a bug -- even if you think it's 'just' a cold or bad allergies.

2. Sleep. How hard is that? [yeah. I know, I know.] If you're not feeling well, or you're a little tired, or maybe think your body is stressed... cancel something, and take a nap instead. Your body will be stronger and less open to infection for it.

3. If you're sick? Stay home. Don't infect your co-workers or classmates. Also, if you stay home you can sleep and recover faster. Win/win.

4. Don't panic, but don't be stupid, either. So far every case reported in the USA has been mild, but if your symptoms seem more severe than the usual, see your doctor.

Is it a cold, or the flu?

And if you don't already have a flu kit -- put one together this week. An ounce of prevention, as they say...

Comments

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Boy are some of those cold symptoms wrong for me:
My colds come on very quick--within hours
I rarely get sore throats
All my coughs begin dry and only gradually get wet
I never have aches from colds

I feel very lucky that I haven't had the flu for many years (and have possibly coincidentally had the flu shot for many years)...keeping fingers crossed that I avoid it for many more.

[lagilman]

Flu shots are good -- if the strain of flu going around is covered by it. This new strain, not so much.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I know.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Eh.
What we're going to find at the end of this is that yes, there is an outbreak of a previously never before seen strain of H1N1... and yes, swine flu crossovers are more prevalent than we recently thought. I mean, how often when we get the flu and see the doc does he/she request a complete genetic breakdown of the influenza bug running 'round in our bodies?

I believe I am personally covered by the cocktail of shots given to me by the military... I also glow in the dark.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

You must be better than a nightlight!

[kriz1818.livejournal.com]

The weird thing is that, having decided today would be a good day to stock up on canned food (no, I'm not paranoid, I just want to avoid the rush) ... I sent my husband off to the store. And he reported that instead of being really quiet on a Sunday evening, the (for once understaffed) store was crowded with nonwhite non-English speakers stocking up on canned food.

[wood-dragon.livejournal.com]

Flu kit? What would that involve?

[lagilman]

http://misia.livejournal.com/932116.html gives the full rundown on what you need, in a perfect world. Even doing a bare bones version of that is good preparedness.

[wood-dragon.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'd rather be prepared for something than panic when it's too late. And, in any case, it makes sense to have many of those items on hand and in one place.

[havocthecat]

3. If you're sick? Stay home. Don't infect your co-workers or classmates. Also, if you stay home you can sleep and recover faster. Win/win.

If you're sick, stay home if you can. It's really easy to say, but some corporate policies aren't conducive to taking time off when you're sick.

I wish I were kidding.

[lagilman]

"easy to say"? Yeah, it's easy to say. It's also the smart thing to say. When you're talking a potentially deadly illness that might last 48 hours if you take care of yourself and land you in the hospital if you don't, sometimes it's a necesary decision. And yes, I'd say the same thing even if I was still a corporate full-timer.


BTW, I was told, off the record, by a lawyer-type with a government acronym, that a company that refuses reasonable sick leave is opening themselves up not only to a viable lawsuit [endangering the health of its employees by encouraging contagion] but by investigation by that government acronym, especially when a health crisis relating to that illness has been indicated.