Atlanta — Let us give thanks — and pass the Purell.
Your family might be sharing more than turkey and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. Swine flu may also be on the table — and at crowded airports and shopping malls.
Just as the pandemic seems to be waning around the country, some health officials are worried that holiday gatherings could lead to more infections. So the government has launched a new travel-health campaign.
“It’s important to remember the things that everybody can do to stay healthy,” said Dr. Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Thanksgiving is typically followed by at least a modest bump in early seasonal flu cases, according to reports from the past few years. But this, of course, is not a typical year. Swine flu is a new virus that accounts for nearly all flu cases right now.
Despite weeks of declining infections, health officials are staying vigilant.
The federal government is putting up posters in airports, seaports and border crossings in time for Thanksgiving. The campaign also includes advertisements with slogans such as “Stop, Wash & Go.”
The CDC urges people to travel only if they are well, get vaccinated against swine and seasonal flu, wash their hands often, and cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve.
Some 33 million Americans are expected to hit the nation’s highways over the Thanksgiving holiday, a slight increase from last year. About 2.3 million more will travel by airplane.
The elbow-to-elbow conditions expected on many flights may pose more of an infection threat than a runny-nosed tyke at the other end of a Thanksgiving dinner table. One CDC official even suggested asking that a sick passenger be moved to another part of a plane.
But that’s not likely to happen on a crowded airliner or bus, and it isn’t much of a solution anyway, said a few people waiting at Atlanta’s downtown Greyhound station on Tuesday morning.
“That’s just putting it next to somebody else,” said Judd Nelson, 39, waiting to start a two-day bus trip to Phoenix.
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gr (anonymous) says…
"Thanksgiving is typically followed by at least a modest bump in early seasonal flu cases, according to reports from the past few years."
Uhhh, wonder why. Do you think there might be the ever so slightest possibly of having something to do with what people eat?....
Naaaah. Bring on the sugar plums. How about some pork? Or turkey, beef, or whatever your favorite dead animal may be and lots of it? Don't forget to eat lots of pie. Especially pie with lots of sugar. And, don't forget gorging yourselves on leftover Halloween candy. We got to make this pork flu happen even if it's not.
gr (anonymous) says…
You should start noticing several people getting sick, missing work, sneezing and coughing on you. Look around you, observe. But the cause most likely has more to do with something else than pork flu.