Swine Flu - Concerns Traveling by Rail?

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ALC_Rail_Writer said:
The CDC reports that there are cases in Ohio, Texas, Kansas, California and most notably New York City.
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Stay indoors. Talk to nobody, don't answer the door. Don't breathe in or out. Don't answer the telephone as the bugs can swim down the line. Don't use the internet for the same reason.

Seal your doors and windows. Dont open any mail as the bugs can self mail.

But whatever you do, don't panic.
 
Neil_M said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
The CDC reports that there are cases in Ohio, Texas, Kansas, California and most notably New York City.
Click to expand...
Stay indoors. Talk to nobody, don't answer the door. Don't breathe in or out. Don't answer the telephone as the bugs can swim down the line. Don't use the internet for the same reason.

Seal your doors and windows. Dont open any mail as the bugs can self mail.

But whatever you do, don't panic.
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Exactly. That's why I have invented teh perfect way to prevent getting sick. I put plastic bags over my head and breath out all the air so nothing can get in.

Brilliant, huh? :ph34r: :ph34r:
 
Unless you've recently been to Mexico and have made out with a pig, or come in contact with one. You should be fine. The media is making a much bigger deal out of it then they should, because of this it is only creating panic and chaos.

Next people will be saying this is some kind of terrorist attack and it will make matters far worse.
 
Neil_M said:
ALC_Rail_Writer said:
The CDC reports that there are cases in Ohio, Texas, Kansas, California and most notably New York City.
Click to expand...
Stay indoors. Talk to nobody, don't answer the door. Don't breathe in or out. Don't answer the telephone as the bugs can swim down the line. Don't use the internet for the same reason.

Seal your doors and windows. Dont open any mail as the bugs can self mail.

But whatever you do, don't panic.
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I don't think thats possible here on LI where it was 90 degrees all day long. I haven't even started spring cleaning yet and it already feels like summer!

cpamtfan-Peter
 
I hope my moms many nick nack pigs aren't infected. She has a whole big mantel full of them. I'd better not get near them :ph34r: ...

cpamtfan-Peter
 
Well, I guess my concern wasn't completely unfounded! Now it's a wait and see whether they'll say anything about train travel.

Thanks for the chuckles on the topic, folks! This is a very creative group on here! :)
 
BaileyRailFans said:
Well, I guess my concern wasn't completely unfounded! Now it's a wait and see whether they'll say anything about train travel.
Thanks for the chuckles on the topic, folks! This is a very creative group on here! :)
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I've been seriously concerned about the piggies on my feet catching it....Good thing they are protected by socks right now. :)
 
Yes, I see the need to be cautious, but this thing appears to be being blown out of proportion. If you have read about the 1918 flu epidemic, you will find that millions of people died. Since it was in wartime, many governments, including the US, were very secretive about the spread and even the existance and prevalence of the disease. As a result a lot of death certificates that should have said influenza said things like pnemonia, instead.

Now we are talking about something that has affected about 100 people in the US and killed nobody here - yet.

I was in Taiwan during the SARS epidemic. They did not shut down public transportation. The cities would have congealed if they had, but you had to wear a face mask to ride a bus, subway, train, or airplane. Many events that would have resulted in gathering of large numbers of people were canceled. Your temperature was taken before you could enter most public buildings, and even the one man and his family barber shop where I got my hair cut checked my temperature when I came in. Yet for the entire duration of the epidemic, there were only about 50 deaths on Taiwan out of a population of about 21 million. I don't recall the total number of cases, but the number was not truly huge. Aggressive treatment kept the fatalities low.

We got some glimmers of what was happening in China, where the situation was quite different due to the much lower level of hygiene and quality of medical facilities available to the general public. The reality there will probably never be know due to the level of secrecy surrounding what really happened.
 
George Harris said:
Yes, I see the need to be cautious, but this thing appears to be being blown out of proportion. If you have read about the 1918 flu epidemic, you will find that millions of people died. Since it was in wartime, many governments, including the US, were very secretive about the spread and even the existence and prevalence of the disease. As a result a lot of death certificates that should have said influenza said things like pneumonia, instead.
Now we are talking about something that has affected about 100 people in the US and killed nobody here - yet.

I was in Taiwan during the SARS epidemic. They did not shut down public transportation. The cities would have congealed if they had, but you had to wear a face mask to ride a bus, subway, train, or airplane. Many events that would have resulted in gathering of large numbers of people were canceled. Your temperature was taken before you could enter most public buildings, and even the one man and his family barber shop where I got my hair cut checked my temperature when I came in. Yet for the entire duration of the epidemic, there were only about 50 deaths on Taiwan out of a population of about 21 million. I don't recall the total number of cases, but the number was not truly huge. Aggressive treatment kept the fatalities low.

We got some glimmers of what was happening in China, where the situation was quite different due to the much lower level of hygiene and quality of medical facilities available to the general public. The reality there will probably never be know due to the level of secrecy surrounding what really happened.
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George - I have never worn a mask such as you describe. When I see TV reports and pictures of people wearing them it appears they are not completely airtight along the edges where they meet the skin. That is, there sometimes seem to be a gap where air flow could flow from you to the outside or from the outside in to you. What are your thoughts, if any, about that situation? Bottom line, are these masks effective? Are there some masks that are more efficient than others?

Thanks!!
 
MrFSS said:
George Harris said:
Yes, I see the need to be cautious, but this thing appears to be being blown out of proportion. Now we are talking about something that has affected about 100 people in the US and killed nobody here - yet.
I was in Taiwan during the SARS epidemic. They did not shut down public transportation. The cities would have congealed if they had, but you had to wear a face mask to ride a bus, subway, train, or airplane.
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George - I have never worn a mask such as you describe. When I see TV reports and pictures of people wearing them it appears they are not completely airtight along the edges where they meet the skin. That is, there sometimes seem to be a gap where air flow could flow from you to the outside or from the outside in to you. What are your thoughts, if any, about that situation? Bottom line, are these masks effective? Are there some masks that are more efficient than others?

Thanks!!
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To quote a doctor friend of ours over there: The mask does more to protect others from you than it does to protect you from others. From a public health perspective, as opposed to the perspective of your own health, it is the same either way, as if the mask keeps the germs of the infected from being scattered this is just as good for keeping them away from the uninfected as something on the uninfected that would keep them from getting in. However, for you, it is the question of keeping them out.

Increasing the length of passage of the air flow before it enters your nose is beneficial, but not really a life or death difference. For the mask ot be reasonably effective for the benefit of the wearer, you need to be sure that the top is fairly snug around your nose. There is a wire in the top edge of these things for that purpose. If you get one that does not have such, you have gotten a fairly useless cheap knock-off. If you find the wire on the bottom edge, it means you have the mask upside down. Wearing one may be of more benefit in making other people decide to keep their distance than for any other purpose. I have no idea of the longevity of this particular bug outside the body, but generally airborne diseases require a fairly short transit time.

Generally, I would say the normal being careful for cleanliness of hands, etc. that has already been mentioned will be your best bet. A mask will protect you from the sprayed cough and sneeze droplets, but not really do much for the microscopic airborne particles., but the protection from droplets could make a huge difference in your exposure.

I know this is not exactly the clearest of answers, but it is an attempt to give you a realistic one.
 
George Harris said:
Generally, I would say the normal being careful for cleanliness of hands, etc. that has already been mentioned will be your best bet. A mask will protect you from the sprayed cough and sneeze droplets, but not really do much for the microscopic airborne particles., but the protection from droplets could make a huge difference in your exposure.
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And the mask will do nothing to protect you from the most common form of virus transmission, that being touching an infected surface. Probably 90% of all viral infections pass from person to person by touching a contaminated surface, and not via breathing in airborne particles. If you're not within 3 feet when someone coughs or sneezes, you're not close enough to breath in any contaminated particles expelled by the cough/sneeze. They'll fall to the floor long before they get near your nose.

If you want to avoid catching something, then you want to avoid touching anything outside of your home. Since that's of course impossible to do, the next best things to do are to make a very conscious effort to not touch your nose, eyes, or mouth with your hands until you've washed them thoroughly of used some form of anti-bacterial lotion or wipes. Even then, still best to try to avoid touching your face if you can help it, until you've washed several times back at home.

You could wear a mask all day long, but if you touch a door, or pick up a phone, or an item while shopping that has been touched by someone who has the flu, and you then rub your eye, you have a very good chance that you've just infected yourself.
 
AlanB said:
...make a very conscious effort to not touch your nose, eyes, or mouth with your hands until you've washed them thoroughly of used some form of anti-bacterial lotion or wipes. Even then, still best to try to avoid touching your face if you can help it, until you've washed several times back at home.
You could wear a mask all day long, but if you touch a door, or pick up a phone, or an item while shopping that has been touched by someone who has the flu, and you then rub your eye, you have a very good chance that you've just infected yourself.
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This is a good summary. A face mask is pretty good at preventing spread of disease by airborne droplets. (Most effective when worn by the one doing the coughing or the sneezing, but pretty good in either direction.) Influenza is a "lipid-coated virus", which means it is inactivated by ordinary soap (for washing your hands) or alcohol (for scrubbing surfaces).
 
George Harris said:
PetalumaLoco said:
Thousand die of flu since January.
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Exactly! We get in an uproar about the odd and unusual and forget about the ordinary which is really more of an issue.
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I'm always aware of communicable diseases, because of my immune disorder. But this is obviously not just your ordinary flu virus, even though the flu does kill thousands of people each year! It's urgent enough for the CDC to make it an issue, and for WHO to raise the flag and go to a global phase 5, categorizing the swine flu as an 'imminent pandemic' situation.

I am not trying to incite panic amongst rail travelers, but this is one virus that needs to be taken seriously. True, we as a nation have become lax about viruses and diseases that are always running rampant in our society. And we use antibacterial soaps, wipes and cleaners in our homes and out in public as the norm. Still, I think this was a good topic to bring up for discussion and I'm glad that I did! :)

Thanks for everyone's input...and happy T-rails to you!
 
On Saturday (4/25), there were only a couple of cases of swine flu in New York.

On Sunday (4/26) there were a couple of people wearings masks at Washington Union Station, which has trains coming from New York.

Now, just 5 days later, it has spread like wildfire.

Having just taken the Cardinal to DC and the Captial Ltd. back to Chicago, I do have concerns about the cleanliness of the washrooms. There is always water around the sinks. this is an excellent way to breed bacteria. I was always a great one to clean up after everyone else in hopes that the next person would do the same, but on this trip I didn't. Instead I used those wet wipes in individual packages and didn't even touch the sink or the faucet.

It seems that in light of the quick spread of this flu, Amtrak needs to do something to make their washrooms cleaner. They have never made it a priority, but this problem is something they need to address right away.
 
Everydaymatters said:
It seems that in light of the quick spread of this flu, Amtrak needs to do something to make their washrooms cleaner. They have never made it a priority, but this problem is something they need to address right away.
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With all of the attention to the Swine Flu virus, and the CDC and WHO asking for due diligence from all travel agencies, I think Amtrak will be stepping up their maintenance procedures and taking every necessary precaution to protect it's passengers.
 
Well, Biden done gone and opened his lips to tell folks to stay off of airplanes and subways. Wanna bet that Amtrak travel will be down as well?
 
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