The '09 Swine Flu Threat Could Force People to Stop Spreading Germs

If ever there was a time when we might not actually get the flu in America, it's now when public panic is ensuing over a possible pandemic of Swine Flu. Should you be as unfortunate as I've been and become the unknowing target of those who can't seem to cover their mouth when coughing or sneezing in public places, then you know what it's like to be sick often after spending time in those public places. Having worked in tight-knit office settings before, I know how fast flu can spread. And the more tight-knit the office (well, not that tight-knit), the more vicious the flu can be. One of my last times working in an office several years ago had me catching a severe stomach flu that instigated vomiting for three days straight. This was after careful consideration not to touch my eyes, nose or mouth after typing away on a computer keyboard and using a sanitary napkin besides.

With the Swine Flu, the office setting is going to be hit the hardest, which may necessitate employees in those environments wearing masks during business meetings. Or, it could just be preventable with more awareness of coughing and sneezing when around people.

Yes, I know that the majority of people who hang around public places know about covering your mouth and nose when sneezing. It's shocking, though, to see how many people say it out loud and then contradict themselves when standing right next to a group of people or items we touch or consume. The same goes in the above office settings where disinfectants are sprayed and wiped on every surface to prevent something from spreading. Then you'll have a usually cautious colleague who inadvertently sneezes or coughs right into the open air and within your breathing space.

Call all that what you will in the world of psychoanalysis, but I've seen plenty of evidence that when one person gets sick with a cold or flu, some of those people have an unconscious desire to spread it to a next of kin, friend or other associate. Then when it's fully spread to that other person, there's always the half-hearted apology from the spreader over being the possible culprit. We don't even get that apology when it's a stranger in the grocery store who also has a bizarre inner compulsion to spread his or her germs to anyone within phlegm-shooting distance.

One of the worst places to catch anything is in a grocery store where handling a cart, packages of food and even money can mean a luxury tourist destination for germs. Because we usually can't wash our hands in the immediate term after travailing through the grocery stores aisles and the checkout line, the chances of one of our fingers gliding past our eyes, nose or mouth is usually better than average. If surface germs aren't bad enough, then the people who fling their cold or flu germs on you are why things like the Swine Flu spreads so easily.

I'll hope you haven't been like me where every single trip to the store garners some sick person sneezing near you without covering their mouth, or coughing right into your cart where food you'll be consuming later is sitting. The grocery store may be the worst place to hang out when avoiding something like the Swine Flu, yet obviously unavoidable.

With the Swine Flu likely becoming more diffuse after the time of this article writing, will the panic from it all finally force those who inadvertently spread their germs to be more conscious of what they're doing? Call that panic if you wish, though it brings some shades of what happened in 1976 when the Swine Flu was also a potential threat to the American people.
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While I was very young then, I do remember some of the panic from the '76 Swine Flu threat. President Ford ordered the vaccinations against it, of course, only to have it all backfire after a quarter of the populace was vaccinated. But many people then had never experienced anything like that in a generation, hence bringing on a state of panic that turned out to be unfounded. Along the way, people temporarily became more conscious of spreading germs. I don't remember people wearing masks as an extreme measure we'll likely see again now. There was just more of an awareness about coughing, sneezing and standing too close to one another, whether that was for work or romantic reasons.

After it all passed, we had 30 long years of new generations to develop a dangerous complacency. It's when that unconscious desire to spread germs became imprinted in the minds of those who apparently thought it could be magically averted, no matter that there wasn't a flu epidemic going around.

The 2009 Swine Flu may just turn out to be one of our worst flu pandemics in several generations. If not, however, it's still going to incite panic all over again and a new awareness to not cough or sneeze on or near a person or their things. Of course, there's always going to be a few out there who just don't care and will keep doing that anyway, despite the warnings. Those people risk getting smacked in the head in a public place if they don't pay more attention to spreading their sputum. For everybody else, we may finally get a break from hearing about something spreading, just based on that more alert awareness.

Ultimately, that simple astuteness can keep things operating without having to close down everything out of fear. If the government forces things to close down, then it proves they don't trust the populace on taking the steps necessary to avoid the spread of a potentially deadly flu. This writer does believe in the populace doing the right thing, based purely on how people react to frightening things.

We know that awareness will be temporary, so enjoy it while you can. That is, unless you have the benefit of working from home where the only threat of germs is a family member who also has that unconscious desire to spread their cold or flu to a next of kin, no matter how much they say they love you...