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The Swine Flu: Are You Worried?

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Leyland
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Post by Leyland » Fri May 1st, 2009, 4:05 pm

I noticed an older lady, possibly in her late 60's to 70's, in the Home Depot lighting section in Greenville SC wearing a mask over her nose and mouth when I was shopping yesterday.
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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Fri May 1st, 2009, 4:20 pm

[quote=""Misfit""] :) :) :)

Credit for this goes to my friend Smeddley over at Live Journal. Go to Google, search for 'Do I have swine flu' and click on I'm feeling lucky.[/quote]

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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Fri May 1st, 2009, 10:12 pm

Mine too! I definitely LOL'd!
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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Fri May 1st, 2009, 10:49 pm

[quote=""Leyland""]I noticed an older lady, possibly in her late 60's to 70's, in the Home Depot lighting section in Greenville SC wearing a mask over her nose and mouth when I was shopping yesterday.[/quote]


Shame it won't do her any good. The virus is small enough to go right through those things and they don't protect your eyes. Now a gas mask on the other hand...

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sat May 2nd, 2009, 12:44 am

[quote=""LoveHistory""]Shame it won't do her any good. The virus is small enough to go right through those things and they don't protect your eyes. Now a gas mask on the other hand...[/quote]

I've started to post this about three times and bailed out of it but now I'm going to say it. Yes, we should be worried, but there's a lot more to be concerned with health wise than just The Swine Flu (among others). I went to first aid training several years ago put on by a long time paramedic and it was quite an eye opener. We all worry about exposure to blood and aids and then forget about it to some extent because the aids virus dies on contact with air. Well, Hep C doesn't it lives on and on and on (according to the paramedic - I'm no doctor nor do I play one on TV).

So, you jump in to assist someone bleeding and/or loss of other bodily fuids (ie vomit), you have an open cut and don't put on gloves, a CPR mask whatever and well, you've probably got it too. They even teach you to disinfect any surfaces contaminated by blood (bleach, not those surface wipes that doesn't kill it), sent someone home with bloodied clothes to wash them and more. Scary stuff, you don't even know what's on the money you're handling.

Case in point was a Metro bus accident here in Seattle years ago where the bus fell off a bridge and many of those good samaritans jumped in to assist without proper protection and there were a few who ended up with Aids, Hep C and all kinds of fun things.

Not to downplay the swine flu, but there are many other threats lurking in our day to day lives we do not know about or think about.
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Christina
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Post by Christina » Sat May 2nd, 2009, 11:17 pm

For a brief chapter of this life, I was a nurse and that involved caring for people with all kinds of infections. It never crossed my mind that I might catch any infections, while concentrating on the work that needed to be done. I never caught anything (and was dealing with all kinds of stuff). Then, one day, someone said, "Aren't you worried about catching this, that and the other..." and for the first time, I caught a (minor) stomach bug. It seemed to be to show the way that if we believe we'll catch an illness, we do.

Of course, it's important to wash our hands and cover our sneezes - this is age-old stuff - but I have massive doubts about this epidemic. It's so interesting how every time there are major problems for governments, they suddenly come up with a new disease that they can make us all afraid about so we are distracted dependent again. Now they will frighten people out of their wits and then take care of them. And people will contract this illness if they believe in it...

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Mon May 4th, 2009, 4:51 am

[quote=""Leyland""]You know, this might take Moctezuma's Revenge to a whole new level! ;) [/quote]

Very funny! We've had about 103 cases in California so far, they say, only a few confirmed and the majority "suspected." My department got a briefing on emergency procedures should the situation escalate but we're told the virus could be slowing down and becoming less virulent, so they don't think it'll get nearly as bad as feared.
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Mon May 4th, 2009, 11:05 am

Another school in my area closed down because of a "suspected" case.
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Post by Ash » Mon May 4th, 2009, 1:42 pm

Our state health dept has ordered all closed schools opened, and has said they will not close more schools unless the situation deterioates. I think finally common sense is prevailing; one dept person was quoted as saying that if schools closed every time there was sign of a flu (any flu) we'd be closed year round.

Whats funny here, is that we have a small but very vocal group who insist that we close the border with Mexico, and claim that Mexicans have come to this country to unload the virus (they'd really love to just put all Hispanics in camps if they could). But we've had very few cases here, and no deaths. Mmmmm....

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LoveHistory
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Post by LoveHistory » Mon May 4th, 2009, 3:16 pm

We've only had three confirmed cases and about 60 suspected. I've only heard of one school in Wisconsin closing.

I did hear that Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, and Lady Antebellum have cancelled Meet & Greets.

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