Gradually washing our hands of the swine flu
Hopefully, the worst of the swine flu scare is over and we can
go back to our normal habits like not washing our hands and eating
bacon.
The media buzz surrounding the swine flu has been deafening.
Will schools close? Should we wear masks when we go out in public?
Will pork rinds give me a fever?
Gradually washing our hands of the swine flu
Hopefully, the worst of the swine flu scare is over and we can go back to our normal habits like not washing our hands and eating bacon.
The media buzz surrounding the swine flu has been deafening. Will schools close? Should we wear masks when we go out in public? Will pork rinds give me a fever?
Caution certainly was warranted in the early days of what became a pandemic. No one really knew how virulent the H1N1 virus was or would become or that eating pork would not give you the flu.
Much of the news attention focused on schools, since young people are notorious germ-spreaders, as any parent or teacher could tell you.
A typical parent-teen exchange at home:
“Flush the toilet!”
“I did.”
“I didn’t hear it.”
“OK, fine.”
“Wash your hands!”
“I did.”
“I didn’t hear the faucet.”
“OK, fine.”
“Did you use soap?”
“Hmph, blah, blah.”
“Use soap this time.”
“OK, fine.”
Health warnings in the early days of the flu’s spread included recommendations for schools to close for a week if they had a student with a confirmed case of H1N1. Then that was bumped up to two weeks before health officials decided that keeping a sick student – not an entire school – home was probably a safe enough course.
It was interesting in my classroom to watch the reaction of my germ carriers, I mean students, to the swine flu news.
“I heard three people at our school have it,” one said.
“I got a text that our school is going to close,” said another.
Neither was true, of course.
San Benito High School, like many others, took an aggressive stance with the flu scare. Officials handed out flyers and sent e-mails and made phone calls and held meetings and had administrators attend meetings. Fortunately, as of this writing, there were no confirmed cases on campus.
It’s no surprise, really, judging by the way some of my students reacted, at least.
One student in yearbook actually brought disinfecting spray to class, which she proceeded to spray on her computer keyboard and mouse prior to using them. I saw some teenage boys use hand sanitizer repeatedly during class.
This is the same age group that shares food and drinks with one another with no thought about germs. They eat hot Cheetos and then lick their fingers. Some don’t cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze. They’re kids. Germ-carrying, germ-spreading kids.
During this past week, however, these kids transformed into scientists working in a semiconductor clean room. I’m surprised they didn’t wear bio-hazard suits or beekeeper outfits. They washed their hands and asked to use the Clorox disinfecting wipes I had on my desk (courtesy of the school.)
At church last Sunday – yes, that was me there, I don’t need more Catholic guilt – we were reminded that the traditional communion practice of taking a sip of wine during communion was temporarily suspended. The woman two pews in front of me who had a nagging cough got dirty looks from the woman next to her who probably was thinking “Great, I’m going to get swine flu at church.”
During the sign of the peace, in which parishioners exchange the greeting “Peace be with you” as they shake hands, many people chose to keep it verbal and avoid touching their neighbor. My dad, who has never been accused of being germ-phobic, dared to reach out to the person in front of him to shake their hand. He was summarily, though politely, rebuffed.
They didn’t want a piece of him to be with them, apparently.
So we seem to have made it through the worst of this latest world-ending sickness. San Benito High School students can now focus on the incurable afflictions that they are happy to live with – Senioritis and Spring Fever – because the cure for that, summer vacation, is right around the corner.
