Avian Flu Diary: Reckless Disregard

# 3888

I received an email today from a teacher who tutors children in her home. She states that she has asked parents not to drop off their kids for lessons if they have `flu-like’ symptoms, yet parents continue to do so – exposing her and other students to their virus.

Her concern is exacerbated by the fact that she has asthma, a pre-existing condition that increases her risk of having complications if she catches any flu virus. Additionally other students she teaches have asthma, or other conditions, that make it important to avoid respiratory infections if possible.

Until an H1N1 vaccine becomes widely available, avoidance of exposure is really their only protection.

And so she is understandably upset that parents are disregarding her pleas not to drop Johnny off for a 90 minute lesson while they are still hacking and coughing like an escapee from a TB ward.

If you are healthy and have no co-morbidities, then all of this may seem like an over-reaction. H1N1 is, for most people, no worse than seasonal flu. Your odds of ending up in the hospital from this flu are probably less than 1 in 1,000.

But if you have asthma, or are pregnant, or have diabetes . . . the threat goes up appreciably.

The emailer was particularly outraged today by an article in the Washington Post, which she felt unfairly maligned those trying to avoid infection.

Families say flu scare comes with a dose of craziness

By Donna St. George

Sunday, October 25, 2009

(EXCERPT)

Strong reactions

With worst-case flu stories dominating the public imagination, the fear of contagiousness has created new expectations about exactly what qualifies as being sick.

Rafe Petersen said his preschool e-mail group list in Chevy Chase lit up at the news that a parent had dropped off a child who appeared slightly sick but who the parent did not think was truly ill.

"People went nuts," said Petersen, 39, a father of three. "The reaction was, 'How dare you!' "

This sort of upset would not have happened last year, Petersen said. But as families try to sort out the confusing risks of swine flu, "I think people are on edge, and I think there's a little paranoia and a little hysteria."

(Continue . . .)

The author of this story and the editor probably thought of this as a `lightweight’, harmless Sunday supplement human interest type story. This is typical `man-on-the-street’ interview fare, which increasingly substitutes for `news’ these days.

Although both sides of the issue are included, those who are most concerned about contracting the virus are negatively labeled (by those being interviewed) with terms like `nutty’, `paranoid’, or slightly `crazy’.

The overriding message it delivers is one that trivializes the H1N1 pandemic and marginalizes those who are concerned.

Now . . . are there people who are overly concerned or are just a little bit crazy over this virus?

You bet.

But it isn’t crazy to expect parents to keep their kids home even if they are only `slightly sick’, or to expect your co-worker to stay home if they are ill. I don’t care how inconvenient it might be.

Doing anything less is a reckless disregard for the health and safety of others. It literally endangers lives.

And frankly, it’s time for society to say so. We need to disapprove of the avoidable spreading of illness the way we disapprove of drunk driving.

And not just during this pandemic.

The comments to this story (which, alas, are fairly typical of what you see these days) show how poorly informed, or ambivalent, a lot of people are about this virus.