Reirei's adventures with the Swine flu idiots...

[reirei]

Hello every one, long time no see! Here are a few of the more choice momories I have of the Swine flu idiots.



I really hate the CDC sometimes...

the day after the CDC released that fun video describing all the symtoms of H1N1 that had every person that works in health care shit a brick because they realised that they are going to be getting frequent fliers by the truckload, a regular known hypo comes in wearing a surgical mask.

SC: I called my doctor at home SIX TIMES to find out what to do and finally he told me to get a mask and gave me a prescription...*the script was for benadryl in it's generic name, lol. Good one doc.*

ME: * at the fact she hassled her doctor SIX TIMES at home*


OMG

A lady brings me a lot of scripts for anti-virals and in the middle I find her folded up QUARENTINE ORDER!

Better believe I washed my hands and purelled after that.


Mommy dearest...

I am on intake, shocker I know, and a lady comes up with a bunch of scripts.

SC: My son was just diagnosed with H1N1 and I need these RIGHT now! *procedes to talk about him being in quarentine in the family home and how he has to wear a surgical mask*
Me: I am so sorry to hear that ma'am! I will have these filled right away!

So heres the thing, the scripts were not only FOUR DAYS OLD, she refused to get them because they each had a copay of three dollars. Her total would have been $12 dollars. She then said we were killing her son by charging her.

Oh what a brave new world with such people in it.


I am not making this up, I really really wish I was...

Some one knocks on the intake counter and i look up to see a woman wearing a GAS MASK. Canister and all.

Me:
Co-worker:
AwesomePharm:
Other customers around her:

SC: *to me* What the hell do you think you are staring at?
Me: You're kidding right?

[PepperElf]

heck
just starting wearing the Aporkalypse Tshirt to work

[MergedLoki]

Ahhhhhh!

Stupid media freaking the whole damn world out with the swine flu crap.

I work in a hospital, and as such, during the big swine flu scare kept having to wear N95 masks (really uncomfy, hot, filtering masks that well.. filter out basically ANYTHING in the air). and gloves and have the rooms cleaned after each patient 'suspected' of having swine flu (read: if they had the sniffles you better believe everyone freaked out :P).

I haven't been the least bit concerned, wore the masks/gloves/etc. because thats just common sense and policy here but really. seeing as the regular flu we get every year around xmas kills thousands a year THATS a far bigger worry than swine flu. Just keep doing good hygeine things like washing hands (those little bottles of alcohol rub don't hurt either) and all that.

I'm sure everyone knows that and is over the big 'swine flu scare' but just saying.

[Legal Eagle]

Swine Flu is less serious than Seasonal flu. Lower death rate. Milder Symptoms.

It is a pure media frenzy, i had swine flu, i lay in bed for 2 days. spent 3 days feeling like hell, that's it, just like seasonal flu except shorter

[MergedLoki]

Swine Flu is less serious than Seasonal flu. Lower death rate. Milder Symptoms.

It is a pure media frenzy, i had swine flu, i lay in bed for 2 days. spent 3 days feeling like hell, that's it, just like seasonal flu except shorter

^ precisely.

It's like SARS. know who died when SARS hit? old poeple, young children, sick people. what do they all have in common??? Lousy immune systems.

Know what else kills people with compromised immune systems? Opening a window.

ok sorry black humor, comes with the job. I dont mean to offend anybody but glad to see (well read) that swine flu hysteria is (mostly) at an end.

[LillFilly]

Would a gas mask really filter out an airborn disease? I know there are different types of filters for different threats, but I doubt she had the right one. Probably the kind you use for painting!

[jerkface11]

I had a guy at work convinced he had swine flu. I love being me.

[lilstu50]

It's quite funny here in the UK, all the 'other' europeans are coming over here wearing masks looking disgusted that we aren't wearing them either.

[Sliceanddice]

also what the media is forgetting is that people who are getting swine flu wherent alive when the alst outbreak in the 70s happened so guess whos getting it, people with out the antibodus, i havent heard of many elderly getting swine flu.

[cinema guy]

Swine Flu is less serious than Seasonal flu. Milder Symptoms.

Not mine. I had it for 2 weeks, and it was the worst flu I have ever had.

Still I concur, there is a media frenzy, out of proportion to the seriousness of the disease.

[friendofjimmyk]

:SC: *to me* What the hell do you think you are staring at?
Me: You're kidding right?

How in the hell did you manage to not fall to the floor, laughing hysterically while pointing at her?

[Arm]

Would a gas mask really filter out an airborn disease? I know there are different types of filters for different threats, but I doubt she had the right one. Probably the kind you use for painting!

Nope. Or rather, yes and no. Not the flu, though.

Long complicated answer follows:

Depends on the mask, and the filter. IF the mask is a full protective mask (covers your face completely) and has a good seal, that's a good start. Next, you have to think about the filter. Filters are made of all kinds of materials, depending on what they're *meant* to filter out. Most will not help.

Let's pretend that we're talking about a fitted mask, and a recently opened Army-issue canister for it that is still within the use-by date.

Viruses are small enough to pass through the filter. I don't know about bacteria. Most spores (e.g. Anthrax) are too large to pass through the filter... but spores for given diseases come in a variety of sizes. Anthrax spores, again, as an example, come in a variety of sizes. The same is true for other disease-causing spores. It's not inconceivable that some spores might make it through. Especially as the older the filter gets, the more likely it is to have something go wrong. Opened canisters have a usable lifespan measured in days.

However. Most bacteria and viruses are actually dispersed in fluids. When you cough, sneeze, etc. you are spewing out tiny droplets of mucus and saliva. That's what the viruses and bacteria are living in. The filter canister MAY trap these droplets. It will stop a few drops. It will not stop all drops. The wetter the filter gets, the faster it breaks down and becomes unusable.

So, will the SC's mask stop him from getting the flu? I'm gonna say no. Because, odds are, he's just picked up a gas mask from Bob's Military Surplus and Fetish Supply. It's old, it's either a Russian or Israeli knockoff that doesn't seal very well, and the canister- which was probably a training canister only meant to filter out tear gas- hasn't been changed since the day it was first put up for sale. It's useless except as a prop.

He'd do better to use one of the medical paper masks and replace it every couple of hours, or more often if he's around sneezing people.

[gremcint]

Some one knocks on the intake counter and i look up to see a woman wearing a GAS MASK. Canister and all.

were you her mommy?





doctor who reference for those who don't know.

[fireheart]

As far as the swine flu panic in Australia has gone, it hasn't been that bad.

Worst we've had has been people joking aboutwhether or not someone has been out of the country whenever someone sneezes. One lady yelled at a coworker who started coughing though.

I've only seen one or two customers at work with the paper masks.

[Bloodsoul]

I'm still waiting for Swine Flu to merge with Avian Flu.

...on a light note, I noticed in the paper that West Nile is making it's seasonal run again.