Texas just went under under statewide disaster declaration because of swine flu outbreak, with all (UIL) athletic competitions canceled until May 8th, per Gov Rick Perry. We have the cooties! (apparently)

For Texas to cancel high school athletic competitions is a Very Big Deal. This state is nutz about that stuff.:crazy:

I'm more aware of people coughing and sneezing on the Metro during my daily commutes. It's peak tree pollen time, so there's a lot of sneezing going on.

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do if/when this thing becomes common in this area. I kind of depend on public transportation, but sealing myself into a train car twice a day with a hundred random strangers seems like it's asking for trouble. On the other hand, I'm exposed to so many people every day, I've probably got a super strong immune system. If it gets bad, I'll probably wear a mask on my commutes. I've got a ton of them for woodworking.

I'd check to see if woodworking masks are suitable. Are you sure they'd filter virus cells?

Not all of them will, but the ones I have should. They're the P95, or whatever.

If they don't, I also bought a box of N95 medical masks a while ago during the bird flu hysteria.

Edit: I just learned that the P95 and N95 masks are identical, but the P95 masks are highly resistant to oil, while the N95 masks are not resistant at all. So my woodworking masks are actually better than my medical masks. Although mine have exhalation valves, so they won't protect anyone from me. They will just protect me from them while I breathe in cool comfort.

here we go....wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

I'm doing my part to stop the swine flu.

I'm eating the pigs.

But I'm only one man...........

You forgot the </Ron White> closing tag, there Crimson. :)

It might be more effective if you switched to long pig, eh? ;)

Ah, human.
The other, other white meat.

We have at least one confirmed case in a child here in Austin, and that kid's elementary school has been shut down for two weeks.

Here's a helpful poster for combating swine flu hysteria:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14763148/D...Have-Swine-Flu

You probably don't know this, but are they going to extend the academic year into the summer by two weeks? That's a long time to just close a school.

Oh, god, that is so wrong.

...but it might suddenly end up in the breakrooms at my office later today. :D

Oh noes, I have contracted Bacon Lung!

On the one hand, I think legally they have to, because there's a minimum number of days the kids must be in school... but on the other, I think that's the sort of thing the governor could easily override in special circumstances. My stepkids' school in Houston was closed for a week due to the hurricane last year, and they didn't extend their school year to make up for it as far as I know.

I was watching Sky News last night (bad move anyway) and they were interviewing people coming back from Mexico. Two of them mentioned that they were told when boarding the flight that they would all be quarantined and subjected to a health check on departure. They weren't, they were just allowed to disembark as normal.

Hmmm, I think - why use that comment from those particular people? Oh I see - the rest of the piece was about how the Government is not taking the outbreak seriously. How the passengers disembarking were rightly concerned (yeah, I'm sure all the tired passengers really wanted to be waiting around for hours to find out they are currently fine). Cue clip of Japanese airport with returning travellers being treated like ET, all shrink wrap and polythene tunnels. That's doing it properly apparently.

Stupid spin-frenzy-storm-hungry Sky News.

Then again, stupid Government, who are sending a leaflet re Swine Flu to every house in the UK. What a waste of bleedin money.

I like those decorated masks though.
If I had been quick enough I'd have put some like that on eBay, would have made a killing!

Ever wonder what happens between the Q-tip and the test result?

Wonder no more, dwellars!

Along with the above article, this was in my email today as well.


"sometimes referred as swine flu" :rolleyes:

:lol:

Well, last week I had popcorn lung...

Can you still catch 'swine flu' even if you keep a kosher table?

NTTAWWT.....

Yeah, a Mexican kid that crossed into Texas for treatment, presumably with family or some other exposed adult(s). Thanks a lot.

We must remain vigilant! Please, be sure to check your symptoms. http://doihaveswineflu.org/

I rest my case/point about the flood of illegals from a previous post in this thread. :)

old commercials about swine flu
:D

:3_eyes:

:lol2:

A guide for parents.

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/parents.htm

Apparently 'Swine Flu' may not be as deadly as first suggested.

That's good news.

Interesting and informative article.

http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournew...98_042909.html

So much for blaming Mexico. :(

Before you know it, plane tickets will be back up and I'll have missed out.

I'm thoroughly disappointed in this flu. It is the worst pandemic EVAH. Where's the weeks off school (work) and the empty grocery aisles, and the clear interstates, and the thinning of the humans?

Hmmmph, I could have done better job with some typhoid.

1918 flu epidemic did the same thing. Then came back with revenge some months later.

Nobody was saying a pandemic was eminent. But precautions due to public warnings and precautions in some locations may have averted widespread infections.

Curious is how this H1N1 virus is so harmful to kids but not harmful to adults. Adults may have protection due to previous flu strains well before 2000 or (some speculated) due to previous flu vaccinations.

67 Air Force cadets stricken with swine flu

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingne...391?source=rss

And:

New flu resembles feared 1918 virus: study

http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...rpc=22&sp=true

New flu "unstoppable", WHO says, calls for vaccine

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNe...edName=topNews

From Flu unstoppable above:

Interesting. I am sure that little has changed on that front. People develop pneumonia and then subsequent bacterial infections are often fatal.

Seems like the more effective/less abused antibiotic route would make more sense than iffy vaccines then. Swine flu vax didn't work out too well last time, what with it killing more people than the flu and all...

Is there some other way to protect yourself besides a vaccine? I never get the vaccine. I have an aversion to it. I simply do not trust the medical industry anymore. They are too much about profits.

Stay away from sick people would be my advice.

That's what I've been doing with Max, although Mav came home and told us that one of the kids in his class had swine flu over the break. She's back at school though, so I assume she's not contagious now.

Stay away from sick people?
Then you couldn't log on in teh Cellar.
OH... you meant physically.

Carry on.

Well it looks like it is here. The majority of people with the flu here seem to have Novel H1N1 (Swine Flu). My wife may be sick with it.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

amazing that it's so active after school is out.

:D :D :D

I agree. Nothing in the CDC report indicated why it was so high. It may be related to it's pestiferousness.

Hey Merc, is your wife OK? Tell her I hope she feels better soon.

Yea, turns out it was some minor flu. Couldn't have been H1N1, lacked many of the symptoms or severity. Thanks for asking. She is on the up turn.

yea! Lucky her having YOU to look after her. :D If only I could be so lucky...

Okay, prepare yourself for an urban-legend-style connection.

My Mum used to work with a woman whose Mum is the Practice Manager (chief non-medical honcho) of the second-nearest surgery to us. She contracted swine flu. In a minor way, but she passed the £20 test. Apparently this is what medical staff (semi-seriously) use to categorise their patients. You think you have flu. You're gazng out into the garden/ yard/ back wall. You see £20 fluttering in the breeze. If you go and get it, it's not flu.

I've not heard of anyone else with it - despite my parents' ridiculous paper trumpeting 350 deaths a day!!! (potentially). But I admit I know very few people anyway. My CPN is ill, but that's the thrid time she's been off sick since April.

This after all the good things you've had to say about the NHS...!

Meh- the NHS is a good thing. But people are people all over the world, difficult, doubting, obstreperous. The "test" is a reaction to people bigging up their illness.

In my mind, the same applies as a migraine test. People clutch their heads and moan about having a migraine while sitting at their desk and working! Or my ex-landlord having one all day... but listening to the radio and making himself real coffee and real porridge (from oatmeal)...

No.

If you have a migraine you hope you have a brain tumour, because at least that means you'll be on opiates until you die.

And if you have influenza you don't behave like someone who fancies a few days off work. Maybe Brits don't make the best Doctors though :)

I am taking Aden to be tested for swine flu today. He was exposed to someone over the weekend who was quarantined last week, and now he's got a very sore thoat and is complaining of feeling really cold which of course is usually a indication that there's an imminent fever.

Anyway, hopefully it's something benign.

I hope it all turns out well. Current estimates are that there may be an infection rate as high as 40% world wide.

The doctor has quarantined Aden for 7 days and started him on tamiflu under suspicion of swine flu due to the fact that he clearly has a viral infection in his throat, has headaches and has been in contact with swine flu in the last 72 hours. Basically our whole household is in lockdown now, but so far Aden is the only one with symptoms. Hopefully it'll stay that way. I've confined him to his room and the back entertainment area with some bacterial handwash and face masks for whenever he comes into the rest of the house, which should be infrequently as he has all the facilities he needs in the area I'm asking him to stick to.

Anyway, he doesn't seem too sick just at the moment, so with any luck, he wont get too sick at all.

My thoughts are with you Ali - here's hoping he either doesn't have it or is one of the many people who get only weak symptoms.

Keep us up to date.

Thanks matey. I feel pretty confident that things will be pretty right. As far as I can tell I've done everything right and there should be little chance of transmission to other family members. Aden is being pretty good about his quarantine too, and his teacher have sent home work for him, so all in all, it should be pretty good.

Mav is just enjoying his extra holiday! Daryl is enjoying one too now because his work has a policy about swine flu and it states that he shouldn't come to work if anyone in your family has or is suspected of having swine flu.

Any news?

Healthy young lad, appropriate medical attention, supportive family (including Ali's cooking) = he'll be fine.

he probably thinks being locked in a room with a TV, internet and playstation is the best sickness he's ever had.

Well he's been doing homework today, and we're just about to start working on a poetry assignment (which I think looks really fun but he's not so keen), so he's doing fine. He's a bit off colour, but nothing too drastic, and he's still well enough to try a bit of back chat every now and then, so I'm pretty sure he's not going to die.

Tonight we're having chicken risotto and some kind of vege loading somehow. Maybe a ragout or something like that, or maybe just a nice yummy fresh salad.