Summary
As I looked out my window at the clear blue sky one day last week I opened an e-mail from my son's college health office. It was about the school's response to the threat posed by the H1N1 flu virus. Especially since the death of a Cornell student in Ithaca last week, parents have been hovering just south of panic mode whenever the word "flu" comes up. From what we know, this novel flu strain is probably no more lethal than the seasonal flu we've gotten used to. However, it does not follow the usual pattern of preying upon the very young and the very old-H1N1 seems to be just as lethal or more lethal to healthy adults.
Simple? Well, not exactly. Dr. Cynthia Morrow, the very helpful commissioner of health for Onondaga County, illuminated for me the difference between airborne transmission, in which a healthy person inhales what an infected person exhales and gets exposed, and transmission by droplets, which is the case with the H1N1. Droplets can fly through the air, as they do when someone sneezes on the bus, but they don't live in the air the way, for example, tuberculosis germs do. They rest on faucets and doorknobs and toilet seats, waiting for someone's hand to make contact.So let's wash our hands, and stop touching our noses, and take all necessary precautions. And as long as the sun is out, let's get those kids outside! Open those windows. Let's show 'em what we're made of here. If the swine want to take us down, we're going to make them work for it.See the full content of this document
Extract
Pig in a Poke
It's been a gorgeous late summer and early fall. The kind of days that just make you want to stay outside and milk every last minute of sweet fresh air. We have to revel in these days because we know, like few other communities know, what's coming. The long chill will soon be here.
We...See the full content of this document
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