Contagion is Not Just for the Silver Screen
Most of you probably just shook your heads and said ``Yeah, sure, it`s JUST a scary movie``. Really now, how many of you have forgotten the H1N1 pandemic that seemed to sweep the nation two years ago? The virus first showed up in April 2009, and seemed to be a mutation of the H1N1 (aka the swine flu); but this flu did not target the elderly as is so often seen in the influenza viruses. The reality of H1N1 was that it was a novel strain of influenza for which existing vaccines against seasonal flus provided little protection.
U.S. government officials were especially concerned about schools as it appeared that the H1N1 flu virus more often affected young and school-age people, between six months and 24 years of age. The H1N1 outbreak led to numerous school closures for the sake of safety; and the CDC issued recommendations that colleges consider suspending fall 2009 classes if the virus began to cause severe illness. They also urged schools to segregate a room for people who were developing flu-like symptoms while they waited to go home; and to have ill students or staff and those caring for them use face masks. In the workplace for fear of the worst-case scenario, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) developed an updated guidance video for employers to use as they established plans to respond to the H1N1 outbreak.
The height of the fear of a pandemic brought about quarantines. There were countries that either initiated or threatened to initiate quarantines of foreign visitors suspected of having; or had been in contact with others who may have been infected. By May 2009, the Chinese government confined 21 U.S. students and three teachers to their hotel rooms and that wasn`t even the end of it. As a result, the U.S. State Department issued a travel alert about China's anti-flu measures and warned travellers against travelling to China if ill. All over the world people were being detained like the Australian cruise ship with 2,000 people on board that was forced to stay at sea because of a swine flu threat. This is not science fiction ladies and gentleman, these ARE cold hard facts.
The best way to prevent the influenza virus is to get your yearly flu shot that has become more readily available since this pandemic, wash your hands often and thoroughly, avoid touching your face and if you suspect someone may have the flu stay as far away from them as possible. As cold and flu season is almost upon us if you DO feel like you`re coming down with the flu; best place for you to be is to see your doctor and then home in your bed. Approximately 36,000 people die from the seasonal flu in the U.S. each year, almost double that number died from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic flu strain...
But Contagion is just a scary movie right?