Here are some snippets regarding measures taken by different sectors in handling the swine flu epidemic.
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Schools have been closed in many areas of Mexico, particularly in Mexico City. The city is home to a population of 20 million with a high density of nearly 3,000 people per square kilometre. New Zealand schools have been prepared for pandemics since the bird flu scare a few years ago.
Children are quite susceptible to swine flu, and schools are great places for infection. New Zealand school kids have been taught to sneeze into their elbows to avoid contaminating their hands, a method that is very messy on sleeves but preferable to infection.
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The New Zealand Catholic Church has instituted swine flu hygiene measures. There will be no more communion wafers on the tongue, no wine from the chalice, and no shaking hands as a sign of peace at services. Does this mean no communion? The serving of communion has been suspended in Mexico, and people are encouraged to pray at home.
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Hospitals are improving on their high standards of hygiene, ramping up procedures in what is an already hygiene-aware environment. Apparently, more than two-thirds of SARS victims in North America contracted the disease in hospitals, either as patients, visitors or health care workers. Hospitals must ensure that equipment and items such as door handles are scrupulously clean.
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The Government in New Zealand will be adding swine flu to its list of notifiable diseases, alongside bird flu, yellow fever, cholera and the plague. This will allow for actions to be taken to institute procedures such as forced quarantine, to limit the spread of the disease.
To date this has not been necessary as all people suspected of having swine flu have cooperated with health officials and entered voluntary quarantine.
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Mexico, the apparent source of swine flu, has been congratulated by World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan regarding their handling of the epidemic, which may have already killed more than 150 people. In particular, Chan was pleased at the “openness and transparency” with which the Mexican Government was cooperating with the WHO.