I think we should all invest in hand sterilizer gel this year. And I think that if our Duh President is actually thinking ahead about a health threat, it’s a pretty damn scary one. He actually read a book recently about the great influenza pandemic of 1918 – the one my mom barely managed to survive when she was 3. She’s been telling me about that one all my life; there’s a china chocolate cup that she keeps in a special place on the hutch in the dining room. Apparently when she was so sick, she was given hot chocolate to drink out of that cup and cried. The cup was so pretty and delicate, she was sure she was a goner because they’d never let her use it for every day.
Chicago Tribune | President Cites Flu Epidemic Risk, Suggests Role for Troops
WASHINGTON — President Bush expressed concern Tuesday about the threat of a global flu epidemic and said Congress should consider letting the U.S. military play a broader role in enforcing quarantines and other emergency measures.
Bush said the possibility of a virulent new strain of avian influenza spreading rapidly around the world raised difficult questions about a president’s ability to direct an effective domestic response and the federal government’s authority to carry it out.
At work I’ve been kvetching about how closely packed we are now after the consolidation, and how as soon as flu season starts all the kids in day care are going to get sick, and then their parents will get sick but come to work anyway, and then the rest of us will get sick (but have the sense to stay home).
Then this morning, there were a couple of stories on NPR that got me thinking:
Health officials are recommending that high-risk patients, including the elderly and health-care workers get their flu shots early this year. But there is growing evidence that the best way to slow the spread of the flu would be to vaccinate young children.
And related stories:
CDC Issues Flu Vaccine Recommendations
Where Germs Lurk In Grade School – where we learn that teaching kids to wash their hands and not put their fingers in their noses will keep America safe.
My sister Timmy will correct me if I’ve screwed up yet another family anecdote. I hope Mom gets her flu shot as soon as possible, and that we do not have to get that china cup off the shelf anytime soon.
UPDATE: Oh, and this seems like a really good idea, doesn’t it?