Pandemic Paranoia

Like many of you, I have been hearing about the "Swine Flu" epidemic that is spreading around the world. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about it. I have learned that some of the symptoms are high fever, body aches, and fatigue... just like the regular flu. I have heard that Americans are being told not to travel to Mexico right now because that is where the "Swine Flu" seems to be hitting the hardest. I even heard someone on the news say that you should avoid anyone who has traveled to Mexico recently.

How are you supposed to know who has traveled to Mexico recently? Are you going to be introduced to someone and ask them if they've been to Mexico recently? "Hey, why are you so interested in going to Taco Bell all of a sudden? You got swine flu, man? Could that conversation conceivably happen in the near future? Hmmmmm!

President Obama has said that the strain in the United States isn't that bad, even though the first U.S. death from it was reported yesterday. I'm not overly concerned about getting it but, maybe I should be. I just have too many other things to worry about right now. (Famous last words, right?)

I work on the 7th Floor of a 17-floor building. On the first floor is the "Student Healthcare Facility", which is just a nice euphemism for "The Clinic". A lot of the patients have discovered that they have Herpes and they go there to get Valtrex. It's a running joke amongst folk in my building. Now, that isn't all that they go there for but, it's the thing that gets people giggling when we see some guy getting on the elevator (usually looking down at the floor) and his angry girlfriend (or, at least, his last sexual partner) is usually giving him the side-eye and stomping her foot (with her arms folded), as they hurriedly rush off the elevator at the first floor.

Here of late, more than a few people have gotten on the elevator sweating and coughing. This has caused a lot of folks (myself included) to back up in the elevator... thus, making the poor sick person feel like a leper. Could they have the dreaded swine flu? What happened to the days when we thought the sick student might have HIV or another STD?

Today, a couple of people had on hospital masks in the elevator. I got on and, at first, I thought I was on the elevator with a group of surgeons. As soon as we passed the mezzanine and first floors, these people took their masks off. I smiled to myself and thought, "Have we gotten that paranoid? Should I be a little more conscious myself? Are these people overreacting? Shouldn't they move the "health facility" (clinic) to another building? All are questions that I will be pondering, but honestly can't answer one way or another!