# Are you preparing for the worst? (swine flu) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488 "2009-04-27T12:32:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/21 "2009-04-27T18:56:54Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’m not making any special preparations. Who survives and who doesn’t will have no apparent rhyme or reason. I will make sure that I have gas in the motorcycle and a route to Las Vegas mapped in case I am one of the survivors, though. Your life for Him? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/22 "2009-04-27T19:10:36Z")
Nah. I’ve read up on infectious disease protocols–a good idea just to prevent the annual nasty cold. And it’s time refresh my hurricane kit–although our water supply should be OK. But I’ll follow the story with interest. I like science news! And I just re-read Connie Willis’s _Doomsday Book_–which features epidemics of the past & the future. And the characters in that future reminisce about The Pandemic of the early 21st century. I doubt this is The Big One, but it doesn’t hurt the public health folks to do the drill. When RSV can put hospitals on drive-by status, there could be a strain on the health care system. Just not expecting the “Bring Out Your Dead” carts! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/23 "2009-04-27T20:45:21Z")
> [@Yeticus\_Rex](#): > > Exercising, eating healthy, washing hands and **stop sticking your fingers in any orifices** is really the best way to stave off many illnesses, not just the swine flu. _boding mine_ Hey now - let’s not get DRASTIC! ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/24 "2009-04-27T21:07:46Z")
Attention, all Humans: Hands and fingers must be wrapped steel-belted rubber gloves with razor wire on the exterior until further notice. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/25 "2009-04-27T21:23:04Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Your life for Him? I’m just saying that I’m going where the lights are on. What do you think of _that_ happy crappy? ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/26 "2009-04-27T21:31:34Z")
> [@Foxy40](#): > > …It doesn’t take much for people to totally freak out, does it? My feelings for real. I have a decent immune system and wash my hands a lot anyhow. When they declare martial law maybe I’ll worry then! ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/27 "2009-04-27T21:44:17Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Your life for Him? Bumpty bump, Cibolia! M-O-O-N, that spells Cibolia, laws yes! (i know, different character) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/28 "2009-04-27T22:29:42Z")
I’m just now getting over a month long bout of asthmatic bronchitis, if I get swine flu on top of that it won’t be pretty. so no, I’m just not worrying about it. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/29 "2009-04-27T22:36:07Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > In about 1978, I remember riding in a subway in NYC that had a sign warning of Swine Flu with a great sketch of a pig. I thought it was funny…a friend simply stood up, tore the sign down and gave it to me. > Damn, I wish I had kept that poster/sign. > > It was quite the scare back then, but nothing really happened. I remember some comedian calling it (the vaccine) the cure for which there was no known disease. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/30 "2009-04-27T22:42:19Z")
Once it hits in force, the gov’t will put out a drug called Phalanx to combat it. It won’t actually work, but it’ll make us all feel better about things. ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/31 "2009-04-28T01:39:16Z")
The supplies I have together for Zombie Apocalypse should probably suffice in case it turns out to be Swine Flu Apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/32 "2009-04-28T02:19:08Z")
What makes this any more concerning than any other recent virus scares (SARS, bird flu, etc)? ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/33 "2009-04-28T02:33:18Z")
I live about 50 miles, as the crow flies, from Elyria, Ohio, where the 9-year-old boy who vacationed with his family in Mexico is recovering from swine flu. I’m in contact every day with people who work with swine. I’m not doing anything except being relieved we didn’t have enough money to send our teenage son on a Mexico mission trip in June with our church’s high school youth group. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/34 "2009-04-28T02:37:59Z")
Baby can you dig your man? He’s a righteous man… Baby can you dig your man? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/35 "2009-04-28T02:46:26Z")
> [@EpicNonsense](#): > > Personally, I don’t know what to think, as we’re still in the very early stages… We’re not even in the early stages. We’re in no stage. A flu has broken out. Big whoop. Influenza’s all around you now. Always has been. The media is, again, whipping people into a panic over the mundane. ---
**Author:** ![Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dec6dc/32.png) [@Picard\_Kills\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Picard_Kills_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/36 "2009-04-28T02:58:16Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > I’m still waiting to die from the bird flu. Ha! I’m long overdue for my death by west nile. I’m more worried about getting robbed at work. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/37 "2009-04-28T03:00:10Z")
I like to read a big Stephen King book in the summer months as I sit out in the back yard between random acts of gardening. Guess which one I just hauled out? 🙂 (The weather’s nice enough to have commenced my read n’ weed evenings.) ---
**Author:** ![vintageloveletter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8e8cbc/32.png) [@vintageloveletter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vintageloveletter)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/38 "2009-04-28T03:08:15Z")
I live less than a half mile from the Queens school where about 8 students were found to have swine flu. What am I doing? Washing my hands when I come home and trying to avoid people who are sneezing. No different from every other day in my 28 years here on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/39 "2009-04-28T03:10:30Z")
Giggling at all \*\*The Stand \*\*refs I feel I should worry more about it. I work retail. Horrible little contaminated monsters. (By that I mean the yardrats. What? I love 'em. OVER THERE.) I wash my hands a lot. I don’t know what else to do. “IF YOU EAT, YOU SHOULD READ THIS!!!” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488/40 "2009-04-28T03:12:39Z")
Chicken Pox, Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, Swine Flu. Wake me up when we get to Orang-Utan Measles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-preparing-for-the-worst-swine-flu/494488.md?page=3)