I'm not sure if pig flu is dominating the talk around your area, but here in Central Texas it is all anyone is talking about. (Actually, at church last night, no one said a word about pig flu. And, I haven't been out of the house other than that this week, but from the looks of the local newspaper, it appears that outside the confines of my bubble, that's all anyone is talking about.) For the purposes of this blog entry, let's just assume that people are talking about this as much as the media is leading me to believe.
The school districts in my area that have already closed are Cibolo, New Braunfels and Comal. There are other districts in the state that have also closed for decontamination, most notably Fort Worth ISD. As of this writing, only one school in Austin has closed for pig flu. I don't have children in school or day care, and that is a great relief at this point. However, I have wondered to what extent I should heed the warnings of the health department.
Should we avoid eating out until contamination is less likely? I'm not suggesting I could be contaminated via a pork chop, but just that any unnecessary public congregating might should be avoided. What about church? In one nearby county, the health department has advised all churches to cancel all activities other than one abbreviated service on Sunday. It is a bit of a nagging thought to drop leave my children in classes with other children attending school who have higher contamination probability. I'm talking about kids who eat their boogers, are not ashamed to let snot freely run from their noses and not shield flying mucous from spraying from their noses and mouths via sneezes and coughs. Can't you just see little Suzy sneezing and microscopic pigs flying through the air and building new homes for themselves in Cooper?! I'm painting a lovely picture here, aren't I? What about shopping? I always wipe down the cart at the grocery store before touching it or seating one of the kids in it, but is that enough?
My initial thought is to just go about normal activities with a few slight enhancements. I don't think we'll avoid anything other than taking the kids to the store or the gym. I assume it's safe, but not necessary. Why not avoid it if possible? As for any other outings, I'll just increase the "hanisizer" usage when in public. (That's hand sanitizer for those of you who don't the language of my children.)
But, more so my thoughts have turned to the politics of this matter. If you know me, that's an obvious path. I was informed by a friend yesterday that after the schools were closed in her area of north Texas, all children were ordered to remain secluded in their own homes. Gathering for play time was prohibited and the police would be patrolling to enforce the order. The question to that is "What would they do?" Would they arrest a child or parent of a child who is playing at the park? If so, under what law? Doesn't that seem a bit unconstitutional? For a flu strain that the CDC has deemed not fatal, that seems beyond the realm of reason.
A conspiracy theorist was featured on a local morning radio show here in Austin yesterday and presented his idea that the pig flu was created by President Obama so that he could enact martial law. I'm all about not trusting the government, but that does seem largely ridiculous. A quick online search today found multiple conspiracy theorists: 1. Obama declared a "state of emergency" response to pig flu to promote the nomination of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Dept. of Health & Human Services Secretary; 2. the fear mongering has been encouraged to lead to martial law and then Obama tearing up the Constitution; 3. the U.S. military has created the pig flu strain to control the population. I'm sure there are plenty more theories out there, but they are all too ridiculous to put more time into finding them. If you're interested, check out the Retard Zone here: http://retardzone.com/2009/04/27/top-10-swine-flu-conspiracy-theories/ to see the top 10 pig flu conspiracy theories.
Governments are even politicizing this new flu outbreak. The Indonesian Health Minister has accused Western governments of engineering the flu strain to oppress developing countries and boost the profits of pharmaceutical companies. My favorite thus far is the Israeli government's response. They are insisting that the strain be dubbed the "Mexican flu" because "pig flu" is not kosher.
I don't know what to think of all the uproar. Without a medical education, I am not qualified to determine what the appropriate governmental response should be to the pig flu. However, I am intrigued by the current goings-on. If you think you may have the pig flu and want to know the symptoms to look for, or you're just looking for a good chuckle, go here: http://www.doihavepigflu.com/
1 comment:
My first thought is wow...we are beling alerted and people are being told to stay home.....and Obama crams a bunch of people in one room to shake hands and glad hand for a press conference. Makes perfect sense!!!
I'm not sure I would go as far as some of the conspiracy theories...but I do feel like the media is making this MUCH worse than it is. We are going along Business as Usual here. We aren't going out to eat but that's just to save money not becuase of germs.
Post a Comment