Will the flu keep you grounded?
Travel news — By Chris on September 29, 2009 at 9:01 am
There’s been some coughing and sneezing around the office lately – and a lot of suspicious glances and glares at the perpetuators. All of the articles that have been put out there on H1N1 have apparently done the trick (not to mention the fact that CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta fell prey to the disease): swine flu fear is spreading.
The paranoia does have a range. One reporter leaving for Berlin today has stocked up on antibacterial wipes that she’ll use for her seat and the tray in front of her. Others are just making sure they wash their hands more thoroughly. And then there’s the editor who told me that he’s not getting on a plane for the ENTIRE flu season.
Obviously, I’m not going to go that far. I have three trips scheduled in the next three months and honestly, I’m not all that concerned. Maybe I’m missing something but swine flu sounds like….the flu. Which sucks, yes. But I’m not going to overhaul my life just to avoid it.
(And hey, I do understand that parents might feel differently. There’s nothing fun about a household of sick youngsters. And I do have sympathy for those familes whose lives have been turned inside out with school closings – I can’t imagine trying to line up childcare for kids exposed swine flu. I’m sure it’s non-existent).
My workplace is offering regular flu shots for free this week and I am going to get one. I want to make sure I can take those afore-mentioned trips. And who knows? Maybe I will start avoiding public places if swine flu outbreaks become prevalent in Washington. But I draw the line at masks. Some things are just out of our control. Let the germs fall where they may.
Are you changing your behavior or travel plans because of swine flu fears?
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5 Comments
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person out there not at ALL worried about Swine flu. I think the panic is way overhyped. I’m going to New York and London this fall (where apparently Swine Flu) is huge and I’m not really concerned at all.
Of course maybe I’ll feel differently once I get sick…
Stephanie, I’m with you! (although I did back away from a coworker who said his kids had swine flu a few weeks ago).
I agree with you, Chris! But, you know the only problem which I’m concerned with is the following. When I was traveling in July with my friend on a business trip to south east Asia with a stopover in Beijing, Chinese airport authorities are using some kind of scanners/cameras to probe the temperature of all the coming passengers. It appeared that my friend’s temperature was displayed as +37C degrees on their cameras and they picked him up out of a crowd to check his temperature with a regular thermometer. Fortunately enough this has shown that he had +36.6C. But after that I asked myself what would happen if he had +37? Would they carantine him for 7 days? On his way from Novosibirsk to Singapore?;) that’d too funny, you know, instead of going to your destination where you are expected to appear next day by your business partners, you are spending one week in Chinese hospital just because of some regular cold. That’s why on our next stop we decided to get something like panadol just in case.
Vitgum, thanks for chiming in. With all the travel you do on the other side of the world, you have a different take than many of us here. You are right – I would worry about the same sort of thing if I was traveling through China these days, as they have been very strict about quarantines.
I’m normally a little squeamish when it comes to the flu, so I can’t say I haven’t kept swine flu in mind when planning my fall/winter travel this year. I’m planning to go Costa Rica next spring, swine flu scare or not, though. I may just bring a lot of Purell and load up on vitamin C.
I do agree that swine flu has been a bit overhyped, especially since in many cases it’s less severe than seasonal flu. Just seems to spread a little easier.