For me this seems like the second wave of swine flu; the American scare had come and gone before I left the States. It seemed to be no big deal--contagious, yes, but no more deadly than the regular flu. Since I've arrived in Korea, swine flu has been a thing of the present, everyone's concerned. Don't joke about swine flu. Several indicators that Korea's serious....
July 5th (arrived in South Korea): Everyone's temperature was checked once we got off of the plane. At the time, I thought this was customary procedure. Looking back, it may have been swine flu (new foreigners!).
July 6th (2nd day in Korea): The night after arriving, one of the ETAs gets sick, enough to go to the hospital. Most likely from the stress of traveling for 24+ hours (dehydration) and eating foreign food. But the university doesn't see it that way--we're potential swine flu carriers, fresh from America. That being the case, we are isolated for 24 hours; we stay in the dorm all day and eat in a separate room in the cafeteria. We almost had to wear face masks. Everyone found this slightly amusing, but we understood the message: do NOT joke about swine flu. I feel like such a filthy disease carrying animal. While this is an experience, I'm careful about who I tell this to. Americans, yes. Koreans, no.
July 12th (at the taekwondo tournament): We see an informational sign about flu prevention. Cover your cough, wash your hands, etc. There's also a sign now in the dorm.
Later that week: I read on the Korean Times that an international choir competition (the World Choir Championships) is canceled because one volunteer and one international group possibly had influenza.
August 18th (arriving in Seogwipo): My homestay sister tells me that her parents had a huge trip to Europe planned, but they canceled it. Why? Swine flu. Don't worry new family--I've been in Korea for six weeks now....I shouldn't be a carrier.
August ~24th: Another ETA tells me that instead of starting school classes are canceled for a week. Why? Swine flu.
September 2nd (yesterday): The Korean Times reports the 4th death of a Korean from swine flu. Actually, the deaths have been associated with swine flu, actually causation is not confirmed. This last death was a middle-aged woman who already had several other ailments (diabetes, kidney failure, and hypertension).
September 3rd (today): I arrive at school to find a line of students and three teachers in face masks (one's the school nurse). They're taking body temperatures, looking for suspicious symptoms (body temp > 37.8 degrees C = fever, maybe swine flu). There was also a swine flu prevention staff meeting before school started. I got the gist of things, but I'll be checking in with the school nurse. Now we have something to talk about.Future: I hope no one (teachers or students) get swine flu...
No comments:
Post a Comment