Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone?

Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (Full Version)

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MzMia -> Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 8:33:18 PM)
Okay, I have to post this question. How scared or worried are you about the spread of the swine flu? I was at the grocery store yesterday, and I swear I saw a man with one of those blue masks on. Maybe he had a compromised immune system, or allergies, I don't know, but when I saw him enter the store with a blue mask on, I thought! SWINE FLU alert! I really don't know a lot about this swine flu, but I am concerned about the spread of this flu in the fall and in the winter, when flu season really hits hard. I have a job in which I sometimes need to wear gloves, and I wash my hands a lot and I keep those hand sanitizers on my desk. I am thinking in the fall, I might be spending half my day washing my hands! Seriously, who else is worried about the implications of this swine flu, combining with other flu's and/or MUTATING, making this fall and winter, miserable for many people? Will we all be wearing blue masks when we are out and about in 5 months?

LookieNoNookie -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 8:47:15 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MzMia Okay, I have to post this question. How scared or worried are you about the spread of the swine flu? Not in the slightest. I was at the grocery store yesterday, and I swear I saw a man with one of those blue masks on. Good...Good neighbor. Give him 5 bucks and say thank you. Maybe he had a compromised immune system, or allergies, I don't know, but when I saw him enter the store with a blue mask on, I thought! SWINE FLU alert! I really don't know a lot about this swine flu, but I am concerned about the spread of this flu in the fall and in the winter, when flu season really hits hard. I have a job in which I sometimes need to wear gloves, and I wash my hands a lot and I keep those hand sanitizers on my desk. I am thinking in the fall, I might be spending half my day washing my hands! Smart girl. Seriously, who else is worried about the implications of this swine flu, combining with the other flu's and making this fall and winter, miserable? There's absolutely no concern with it combining with another flu....doesn't work that way. Mutating...into another derivative....possible. Will we all be wearing blue masks when we are out and about in 5 months?

MzMia -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 9:03:20 PM)
Didn't our VP Joe Biden, state Americans should avoid subways and air travel today? lol Of course, he retracted his statement, they don't want to start a panic. 300 schools have been closed, I do think people need to wash hands more often, be more careful. People like myself that work with students with impairments, need to sanitize desks and shared materials more often. I think it is a bit odd, that Joe Biden made that comment.

TheHeretic -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 9:10:31 PM)
They had me installing one of those wall-mounted sanitizer dispensers in my office today. Pretty ridiculous, if you ask me, since it's a whole three feet from a sink where people could wash their hands properly. I haven't seen anyone wearing a mask yet. I dunno. This is pollen season where I live, and I'm always sneezing and coughing at this time of year. My running joke is trying to shift from "ah-choo" to "oink-choo." But they have long since figured out I have an odd sense of humor.

PanthersMom -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 9:18:31 PM)
handwashing is just good practice anyway. carrying hand sanitizer is probably something i'm going to have to do anyways since i've been on antibiotics for a year now, my immune system isn't what it should be. i'm doing my best to take the proper precautions, haven't gone so far as to wear a mask, but i'd do it if things got more serious. i keep reminding the young ones to wash frequently and to watch out near sick friends. i'm planning to send them to school with new bottles of hand sanitizer, something that's a classroom requirement in our schools. PM edited for stupid fingers!

thishereboi -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 9:19:25 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MzMia Didn't our VP Joe Biden, state Americans should avoid subways and air travel today? lol Of course, he retracted his statement, they don't want to start a panic. 300 schools have been closed, I do think people need to wash hands more often, be more careful. People like myself that work with students with impairments, need to sanitize desks and shared materials more often. I think it is a bit odd, that Joe Biden made that comment. Yes he did. And David Letterman just pointed out that subways weren't safe before the flu. I think he has a good point. Personally, I am not doing anything about it.

igor2003 -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 9:35:03 PM)
I have been a VERY faithful user of hand sanitizers for about 5 years now, and have not had a cold or flu in that time. The key is to not bring your hands anywhere near your eyes, nose, or mouth unless your hands have been sanitized or washed first...especially if you know you have been in contact with things recently touched by a person that has the cold or flu. I'll even use the sanitizer to sanitize the handles on shopping carts and things of that nature. If I drive a car after someone else, especially if I know they are ill, I will sanitize the steering wheel, shift knob/lever, and other controls. I would be more likely to wear a mask if I already had the flu and did not want it to spread. From what I understand, your breath, inside the mask creates a warm, moist invironment...perfect for the growth of the flu virus, and could actually create a situation where you are more likely to get sick.

MzMia -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 10:07:46 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: igor2003 I have been a VERY faithful user of hand sanitizers for about 5 years now, and have not had a cold or flu in that time. The key is to not bring your hands anywhere near your eyes, nose, or mouth unless your hands have been sanitized or washed first...especially if you know you have been in contact with things recently touched by a person that has the cold or flu. I'll even use the sanitizer to sanitize the handles on shopping carts and things of that nature. If I drive a car after someone else, especially if I know they are ill, I will sanitize the steering wheel, shift knob/lever, and other controls. I would be more likely to wear a mask if I already had the flu and did not want it to spread. From what I understand, your breath, inside the mask creates a warm, moist invironment...perfect for the growth of the flu virus, and could actually create a situation where you are more likely to get sick. [sm=goodpost.gif] I have a little tiny case of OCD. [:)] I don't eat any food with my hands normally {at work}, unless I can wash them to my standards first. I have learned to eat my sandwiches, etc. at work without using my fingers, I just maneuver the plastic bag. I have been AMAZED for years, how people will eat food, chips, etc. when I know they have touched many door knobs, surfaces, door handles, prior to eating the chips. I see it every day! Many people wipe their mouth, eyes and nose with their hands all day {without washing them!} and don't think twice. We all know to use a paper towel to open bathroom doors etc. I am amazed at how many people will eat food with their fingers, after opening public doors and touching all manner of dirty nasty objects first. This is one of the few times I am glad I have OCD, I don't have many habits to change! Unless I need to start wearing a mask. People with OCD, are already doing these things. [:D]

ScooterTrash -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 11:41:23 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MzMia How scared or worried are you about the spread of the swine flu? Not really concerned. quote: ORIGINAL: MzMia Will we all be wearing blue masks when we are out and about in 5 months? Apparently not all of us. Personally I think normal good hygene is fine, but things such as constant hand sanitizing is overkill and simply not giving your natural immune system any exercise, so when it does have to do something, like maybe fight off the flu, it is unfamiliar with such a task and it fails. Just my two cents, go back to what you were doing.

GreedyTop -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (4/30/2009 11:55:46 PM)
I'm with Scooter. It's why I try not to take medications other than aspirin or tylenol for aches and pains. The less chemical 'help' for the immune system, generally, the stronger your immune system will be. I understand that some people need to take various medications (waves at PM), but if you are otherwise healthy..shrug

RCdc -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 12:19:00 AM)
If you are not concerned about flu generally, then don't be more concerned over swine flu. So no, not worried anymore than I would be anyway. Flu happens and it's sucky, this is no different. Again, not more concerned with the whole combining/mutating than I had been already. It's a new virus with no injection and if you are in an at risk group, it's uncool. If your not, it's a nasty does of flu. Using desanitisers unless in a hospital is VERY uncool. It's dangerous and also puts people in an unsafe place because it gives a false sense of security. the.dark.

Vendaval -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 12:36:11 AM)
I am big on hand washing and wear gloves when handling raw meat at home in the kitchen. I keep a small bottle of sanitizer in my purse and some baby wipes in the car for cleaning my hands after putting gas in the car or for wiping down shopping carts. No face masks yet but that would be appropriate if working around sick people.

susie -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 12:47:43 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: ScooterTrash Personally I think normal good hygene is fine, but things such as constant hand sanitizing is overkill and simply not giving your natural immune system any exercise, so when it does have to do something, like maybe fight off the flu, it is unfamiliar with such a task and it fails. Just my two cents, go back to what you were doing. I agree. Constant hand sanitizing and avoiding things like touching door handles etc actually harms your immune system as it gets lazy. Your body has a natural way of fighting germs. There have been studies done that show that children who grow in over sanitized homes suffer more from childhood illnesses. My Grandmother always said "you have to eat a speck of dirt before you die". She would regularly eat vegetables pulled straight from the garden with the earth just wiped off. If she dropped a sandwich or cake on the pavement , she just picked it up, wiped it off and continued eating. She never had a days illness. Never went to hospital or to see the doctor apart from during her pregnancies and died in her 90s.

GreedyTop -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 12:54:08 AM)
I constantly hear of kids of the current generation who have asthma, etc..and I truly think that much of it is due to their parents almost hysterical refusal to allow their kids to be near anyone or anything that could possibly have any taint of pollen, pet dander, smoke, etc. I agree with your Grandma, Susie.... eat a bit of dirt and it's healthier. I do wash my hand with anti-bacterial soap before I handle food, but thats just common sense, IMO

ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 1:15:20 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MzMia Okay, I have to post this question. How scared or worried are you about the spread of the swine flu? Scared? Worried? Not at all. Neither is warranted yet. Concerned? Somewhat. It would be naive not to be. This virus has all three of the principal characteristics of a major flu pandemic - it's a new virus to which people have no apparent immunity, it's transmissible between humans, and it's a proven killer. The two unknown factors are how lethal it is, and how easily it transmits between humans. Right now, it seems very likely that it's nowhere near as lethal as it was first feared, and there's increasingly good reason to believe it's not terribly transmissible. But until we know the answers to those two questions, we need to be concerned, and take it very seriously. quote: ORIGINAL: MzMiaI was at the grocery store yesterday, and I swear I saw a man with one of those blue masks on. Maybe he had a compromised immune system, or allergies, I don't know, but when I saw him enter the store with a blue mask on, I thought! SWINE FLU alert! Come on out to San Francisco. I was walking around on Fisherman's Wharf yesterday, and you couldn't swing a dead cat without knocking one of those masks off of someone's face. I'm only seeing them in tourist areas, though, so it's probably tourists who are overly concerned about all the confirmed cases that have popped up in the Bay Area the last day or two. Hell, i don't blame them. I'm not happy about being in the middle of it either. But that's probably more because I'm pissed about being sick and having my vacation ruined, not because I'm worried I only have days to live. quote: ORIGINAL: MzMiaI really don't know a lot about this swine flu, but I am concerned about the spread of this flu in the fall and in the winter, when flu season really hits hard. That's the part that's got me concerned. I don't think the current version of the virus is all that lethal. What I'm concerned about is what it will mutate into over the next few months, and how lethal that variant will be. Being RNA-based, rather than DNA-based, means the genetic structure of the virus is extremely unstable and prone to frequent and dramatic mutations, and there's no way to predict what the characteristics will be of whatever virus it ultimately mutates into. It could be less lethal and less transmissible; it could be more lethal and less transmissible, less lethal and more transmissible - or, it could become both more lethal and more transmissible. There's just no way to know. The fact that it's an H1N1 virus, the same as the Spanish Flu, is unsettling. H1N1 has the proven potential to become a very deadly variant. quote: ORIGINAL: MzMiaSeriously, who else is worried about the implications of this swine flu, combining with other flu's and/or MUTATING, making this fall and winter, miserable for many people? Will we all be wearing blue masks when we are out and about in 5 months? That's the concern. It may combine with other variants of the flu virus, because that's exactly what flu viruses do. This virus combines RNA from swine, bird, and human strains, so it's already combined with other flu viruses once. And it will mutate, because that's also what flu viruses always do. In fact, that's exactly how the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic appears to have occurred. Like this strain, that virus started out as a swine flu in the American Midwest, that mutated into a strain that was capable of infecting humans. That was the first mutation. When it first appeared in the spring of 1918, it was a relatively mild virus, and people really didn't get very sick from it. Within a few months, it had mutated again - this time, into the most lethal strain of influenza ever known, killing as many as 1 out of every 20 humans on the planet. And then, for no reason at all, it mutated once again. Into something that just... went away. For now, anyway. So who knows what next year's flu season will bring? We can't know yet. It could be nothing at all, it could be dire. It will probably be somewhere in between, and there's just no way anyone can know which end of the spectrum it's likely to fall closer to. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but I do plan on paying attention.

RCdc -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 2:22:41 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: susie I agree. Constant hand sanitizing and avoiding things like touching door handles etc actually harms your immune system as it gets lazy. Your body has a natural way of fighting germs. There have been studies done that show that children who grow in over sanitized homes suffer more from childhood illnesses. My Grandmother always said "you have to eat a speck of dirt before you die". She would regularly eat vegetables pulled straight from the garden with the earth just wiped off. If she dropped a sandwich or cake on the pavement , she just picked it up, wiped it off and continued eating. She never had a days illness. Never went to hospital or to see the doctor apart from during her pregnancies and died in her 90s. I have to say that I am a lot less worried about veggies I grow, compared to ones from markets. I know what I put on mine - when it comes to other peoples veg I admit I will wash and peel. My own? I simply give a quick wipe or wash and then it's ready. the.dark.

CatdeMedici -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 3:36:31 AM)
I'm worried, I'm older and on BP meds which puts Me at some risk to begin with anyway. I am My UM's only parent/relative should something happen. I heard an article that flu germs are so small they can penetrate through masks--so I am being very very cautious--supposed to go to a work conference end of this month in Florida, its an international event and I am trying to find some way not to--not much scares Me, but I didn't get this far not being cautious at times.

BKSir -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 5:39:33 PM)
Personally, I'm not terribly concerned. Working in food service for... let's just say a damn long time, I have a pretty clear idea of what kinds of sterilization and cleanliness procedures keep things alive and/or dead. One thing I don't do, ever, is those damned hand sanitizers. They're proven more harm than good, just speeding up the process of viruses/bacterias mutating and adapting and becoming stronger and more resistant. Nothing beats good old fashioned soap and water, and sometimes bleach. Really, if you think about it, putting that sanitizer on doesn't take any less time than actually washing your hands. If it does, it's a couple seconds at best. Everyone here has a couple extra seconds in their day, obviously, or they wouldn't even have time to post/read these forums.

BKSir -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 5:49:33 PM)
quote: Original: susie I agree. Constant hand sanitizing and avoiding things like touching door handles etc actually harms your immune system as it gets lazy. Your body has a natural way of fighting germs. There have been studies done that show that children who grow in over sanitized homes suffer more from childhood illnesses. My Grandmother always said "you have to eat a speck of dirt before you die". She would regularly eat vegetables pulled straight from the garden with the earth just wiped off. If she dropped a sandwich or cake on the pavement , she just picked it up, wiped it off and continued eating. She never had a days illness. Never went to hospital or to see the doctor apart from during her pregnancies and died in her 90s. quote: ORIGINAL: GreedyTop I constantly hear of kids of the current generation who have asthma, etc..and I truly think that much of it is due to their parents almost hysterical refusal to allow their kids to be near anyone or anything that could possibly have any taint of pollen, pet dander, smoke, etc. I agree with your Grandma, Susie.... eat a bit of dirt and it's healthier. I do wash my hand with anti-bacterial soap before I handle food, but thats just common sense, IMO I fully agree. Instances of all kinds of illness have gone up greatly over the last number of years, and it can be watched in direct correlation with how overly sterile we demand things. The human body actually NEEDS these bugs introduced, so it knows how to handle them, and the sooner the better. What do you think vaccinations and such are? They're small bits of whatever you're trying to avoid. Our world has become so damned sterile in what we put in or on our bodies that when something DOES get through, our body says "WTF!?" And goes haywire. It doesn't know what to do with these bugs, be they viral or bacterial. Now, I'm not saying you should go out right now and have a big ol slice of e-coli pie. Of course you should use common sense. But being overly afraid of a little sniffle or having to act like a haz-mat team when you drop a little pice of ground beef on the floor is a big part of what's gotten us into this mess to begin with. Grog. Grog ate raw meat. Grog got sick. Grog kept eating raw meat and didn't get sick again, because Grog body used to raw meat now. It's how our immune system has worked since day one. We go fucking with it, and look what happens... sigh humans...

MzMia -> RE: Concerns and fears about the swine flu/Washing your hands a lot? Masks anyone? (5/1/2009 5:59:29 PM)
This post is to no-one in particular. I am sure I stated that I work with "special needs" students, and I HAVE to wear gloves at times and wash my hands often. I mentioned that I keep sanitizer on my desk, because I can't get up each time I touch one of my UM's and run to the sink across the hall. I am protecting THEM as well as myself, their immune systems generally are weaker than mine. This week on several days, almost all my little lovelies had runny noses which they do not wipe themselves. Personally, I would LOVE to have a teacher or care-giver like MYSELF. I am proud of the fact that if one has a cold, they all don't get a cold. I would not want to leave MY UM, or loved one's with a care-provider who felt "germs were no big deal". [8\|] Many of us work in situations or around others, in which our level of hygiene and handwashing habits will affect others. I would prefer those that I interact with fairly closely, err on the side of over-washing their hands than under-washing. Next point, I have enjoyed all the posts. We all have a right to NOT wash our hands often, or to wash your hands often. I wonder about people that are proud of the fact they don't feel the need to wash their hands often. Or think that germs are no big deal, if that is your mindset, go in peace. [;)] In the end, whatever floats your boat, because at the end of the day, we are all adults and responsible for the decisions that we make, and the consequences of our actions. I don't think there is a right or wrong way, it is whatever makes us comfortable, as usual. If anything, I enjoy washing my hands OFTEN, and plan to even start doing it more often, regardless of this "swine flu". It makes me feel good! <---off to wash my hands! [:D]

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