Swine flu in Singapore
Swine flu hasn’t been spotted here yet, but Singapore lost 11 people in the SARS epidemic of 2006 (I think), and they learned to take public health seriously. So now people getting off planes in Singapore get their temperatures taken (aurally, which is fast) as they disembark. Every school child has his or her temperature taken daily, and the result is recorded on the school health official’s charts. I hope this also means anyone with a temperature is sent home.
And at the university, staff are to take their temperatures daily and submit the results to the university website. If they forget, they get reminder emails. I don’t know how many fevers you need to record before you get total lockdown, if that’s even what happens. Fortunately the students are basically finished with their exams and leaving (many of them for China). Fortunately, because theoretically that should reduce the slightly crowded living circumstances of many students in dorm rooms. We’ll see!
Yesterday my colleague was afflicted with gastric problems, headache and fever – a good candidate for swine flu. Or gastric flu, or basic other flus.