Assignment 2-1

My boyfriend, Phillipe is a weapons mechanic for the U.S. Navy, and stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. A few days ago he told me he was not feeling well, and has this reasonably harsh cough. The next morning he woke up with a fever while still on duty, and was sent to the ship’s doctor. It was discovered that Phillipe had the flu, and was thereafter quarantined due to fears of a possible Swine flu case. Since the day Phillipe was sent home, about 10 more of his shipmates have been released from duty and quarantined for having similar symptoms.

Although not talked about much in my area anymore, the Swine flu is still very much alive. The name of the flu was also changed because of myths that it was caused or contracted through consuming pork. That alone took a toll on the market for pork. As of mid June, there were eight confirmed cases of Swine flu in my hometown of Alexandria, Virginia (Kicak-Vanderhoeven, 2009, para 3). Both Cora Kelly and James K. Polk Elementary schools within the city had confirmed cases of the virus. Since arriving in the states, the virus has been contracted by about 13,000 people, and claimed 27 lives (Kicak-Vanderhoeven, 2009, para 3). Alexandria City Public schools has said they will not close schools who have confirmed Swine flu cases unless so many people have contracted the virus that the school is unable to be run efficiently (Kicak-Vanderhoeven, 2009, para 5). My issue with this is if children are allowed to continue to come in contact with others the chances of spreading the virus are greater. Things such as transportation have to be taken into consideration. For example, the child at Cora Kelly who was confirmed to have the virus may ride the bus to school; that same bus will pick up children from other schools in the city, and therefore increasing the risk of spreading the virus throughout the city. I believe once the virus has been confirmed in a setting like that it should be shut down to limit spreading the virus.

In Phillipe’s case, he was told he would know if he had contracted the Swine flu in about five days after having his nose swabbed for testing. Once again, I think if it is confirmed that he contracted the virus, everyone on his boat should be quarantined.




Reference

Kicak-Vanderhoeven, E. (2009). Eight confirmed swine flu cases in city. Alexandria Gazette Packet. Retrieved July 12, 2009, from
http://connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=329998&paper=59&cat=104