Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The single most important thing you can do to prevent the spread of swine flu (or other respiratory diseases)

other than frequently and vigorously washing your hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds each time, that is:

WHEN YOU COUGH OR SNEEZE, DO IT INTO YOUR ARM INSTEAD OF YOUR HANDS OR A TISSUE!

Your arm rarely comes into contact with commonly touched items such as door handles or money. Coughing or sneezing into your arm is the most effective and easiest thing to do to help prevent the spread of the flu (or colds, etc). PLEASE spread the word! At least those of us who care about not infecting others will help slow the spread of disease. As for those selfish bastards who cough or sneeze without covering their mouths at all, I say we make them wear masks. By force if necessary. Hey, we're at war with the swine flu. Anything goes. ;)

On a more serious note, though, there has been one fatality in the US, a 23 month old child who had come to the US from Mexico for treatment. Also, the CDC has confirmed cases in the following states:
Arizona
California
Indiana
Kansas
Massachusetts (two children in Lowell)
Michigan
Nevada
New York City
Ohio
Texas.
In Massachusetts you can dial 211 for information about the swine flu.


As of yesterday, the World Health Organization has reported confirmed cases of swine flu in 7 countries:
United States
Mexico
Canada
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Israel
Spain

(on an interesting side note, Blogspot considers both "Zealand" and "Blogspot" as spelling errors)