I'm not a doctor, but I hope I can be forgiven for having an opinion on matters medical, especially today, where everyone is affected – in one way or another – by the current flavour of global pandemic. First it was the bird flu, now it's the swine flu. Obviously these pandemics need to be taken seriously. Obviously we were lucky with the bird flu (it fizzled). We need to act rationally and in a coordinated manner to react to face the swine flu. We are bombarded with information on how to wash our hands, when to use hand disinfectant, not to cough all over other people and avoid being coughed all over by these same other people. This is well and good. It just starts to get a little tiring when the information is not consistent. Or – worse – when it IS consistent but interpreted in entirely different ways by the various involved parties.
Take this situation, for instance: Our son now goes to a public school in Zürich. This is new, as he was in a private school until the end of last semester. All in all a good thing. He's happy and has made friends right away. We were pleased that the school communicated well with us parents, sending out newsletters, timetables, lists of classmates' parents’ addresses and phone numbers and those of the teachers before the semester started. One of these newsletters was about the H1N1 virus and laid down the ground rules the schools had decided upon regarding behaviour in case of illness of children or family members. Children were to stay away from school for a week if any member of their family showed cold or flu-related symptoms. If the child became ill and had a temperature of 38°C or higher, he or she also had to stay at home. Now, our son got a slight sore throat and had a temperature of 37.1°C. He seemed fine otherwise, so we sent him off to school. A half-hour into class, I got a call from his teacher. I should come and pick him up right away. He was ill and needed to be removed from class. Now! My wife was closer, so she dropped everything and rushed to get our son. He still had a slight temperature but was otherwise fine. The next morning he was back to normal again, but he spent the rest of the week at home being bored and wanting to go back to school. The school where my wife works (also city of Zürich) has cancelled all school events, which would have brought large groups of kids into close proximity with each other. So whole-school excursions have been cancelled. Sports days also. Our son’s school, though, which is subject to the very same guidelines, has kept whole-school excursions. At my wife’s school, kids with temperatures below 38°C aren’t sent home, unless they are otherwise in discomfort, of course.
Many companies I work with have installed hand disinfectant stations at the entrances or have at least provided disinfectant at the washbasins so that people can clean their hands better and have posted lists of instructions on how to wash hands correctly. This is well and good. But the schools have sent out an information letter telling people that hand disinfecting is not necessary. Again, inconsistent communication.
It becomes doubly difficult when – as a parent – you try to explain this all to a seven-year-old who takes everything very literally. So once we got beyond the heart-rending questions like: “Am I going to die if I get the flu?”, we tried to avoid giving our son conflicting instructions. “Wash your hands well with soap when you come home, again before you eat and always after going to the toilet. Use hand disinfectant if you can’t wash your hands at a washbasin with soap and warm water. Don’t shake people’s hands (or wash your hands as soon as possible afterwards). Stay away from people who seem ill. Keep your hands away from your face, eyes, mouth.” I think that’s a pretty good start.
I wish the schools wouldn’t keep contradicting themselves, though. It’s not really helping.
* DO YOU REMEMBER SEPTEMBER?
* TWEENS - WHO ARE THEY?
* FLYING PIGS
* TRAVEL TO HAMBURG
* AUTUMN GOODIES
* ACTIVITIES FOR SCHOOL KIDS
* CANTON ZÜRICH
* BELINDA BALSCHEIT STORY
----------------------------------------------
click on image for larger view
----------------------------------------------
* ARCHIVE