We've been wearing them around here because of swine flu! Though it's still mostly contained to doctor office waiting rooms and hospitals and such but you see random people walking around with them and it is SO. WEIRD.
Are you for real?! People are wearing them now?! That is so...weird! Is the swine flu a big issue back home? I don't know if it is or not but they're constantly in a state of panic over it here in Japan.
It also makes your face sweaty. DX I've worn them when I've had a sore throat and have to teach because my school is always passing the flu back and forth between grades. -_-;
Yeah, mask-wearing is on the rise here in Cleveland, as are H1N1 vaccinations on campus. The mask-wearing isn't as common outside the hospitals, but I am starting to see them pop up. Granted, this could be because I spend 24 out of the 24 hours in the day in and around hospitals. A few of my classmates are rumored to have come down with it, but that kind of info is generally private, so I don't know for sure.
The n95 respirator is selling rather well, actually...
As to why people here would be freaking out about it, some are just freaking out because that's what they do in their free time, while others understand that it doesn't take much in the way of antigenic shift (i.e. combining with just the right other flu variant) to take this moderately unpleasant and sometimes deadly variety of flu to a mostly deadly and more easily contracted variety.
Also, you get used to wearing masks pretty easily, so I wouldn't rate discomfort as an important factor in why people should or should not take prophylactic measures against contracting flu...
You should know, though, that H1N1 is currently rated by the CDC as "widespread" in all 50 states, which is far more than the handful you see during a regular run of seasonal flu. To quote them directly (with my own emphasis added):
Forty-eight states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This many reports of widespread
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Is the swine flu a big issue back home? I don't know if it is or not but they're constantly in a state of panic over it here in Japan.
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Swiiine flu. Seriously, I don't see why people are freaking. It has a lot less deaths then the regular flu.
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I'm not afraid of it either since I haven't caught the normal flu in years. =/ But it's still not cool that people die from either one of them.
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I've worn them when I've had a sore throat and have to teach because my school is always passing the flu back and forth between grades. -_-;
But in general I dislike them.
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ahhahahaa, yup even we know US is big! XD
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The n95 respirator is selling rather well, actually...
As to why people here would be freaking out about it, some are just freaking out because that's what they do in their free time, while others understand that it doesn't take much in the way of antigenic shift (i.e. combining with just the right other flu variant) to take this moderately unpleasant and sometimes deadly variety of flu to a mostly deadly and more easily contracted variety.
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You should know, though, that H1N1 is currently rated by the CDC as "widespread" in all 50 states, which is far more than the handful you see during a regular run of seasonal flu. To quote them directly (with my own emphasis added):
Forty-eight states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This many reports of widespread ( ... )
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Either way, face masks still aren't common in the US.
The Japanese make panicking into an art form.
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