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Okay, so I was in New York last summer and... Like everyone else, I absolutely LOVED it, and so did my dad, who I was travelling with.
Ever since we got home, we have been planning to go back this summer... But now he says that maybe it´s a little dangerous or a little too risky... Because of Swine Flu!!
Soo what are your opinions on this? I mean, there have been several cases in NYC, and the place is very dense so it is really easy to get infected, as you are always close to other people.
Personally, I think of all the millions of people who are living in NYC every day and who are healthy... So it doesn´t really scare me that much.
What are some arguments I can use against my dad to make him understand that going to NYC is NOT dangerous? Or maybe it IS dangerous? Maybe its not a risk i should take?
Using the logic that there's H1N1 influenza (this is NOT properly called 'swine' influenza, because it has avian, swine and human elements in the genome), in NYC, your father should also leave Europe, because it's in the EU, too. And it's in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia, so he can't go to any of those places, either.
I guess he's got nowhere to go. This is not a rampant epidemic. It's not as if hundreds of people are becoming ill every day, because they're NOT.
I live in NYC, and nobody is even talking about it here. I think about 10 people have died, which is about the number that die from the regular flu every year. Generally, it's affected babies, old people, and people with weakened immune systems. If you're healthy, I can't imagine there's anything to worry about. It certainly has had no effect on day-to-day life here.
I visited NYC in early May 2009 when all the H1N1 scare had just begun and now have just moved here. I have been here two weeks now and am perfectly alright. I have travelled in buses subways and walked around Times Square.
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Your chances are unlikely if you're just visiting. I live in an area of Queens where schools were closed down, and I work in the public schools. I was in the hospital because I got really sick and was told I most likely had it...but I got over it naturally like any other sickness I've had in my life. It's really no different than any other flu.
Its not flu season here. If we were Australia, or some other southern hemisphere country, maybe, but since its out of season its not like its as rapid of a transmission to warrant staying away, not to mention that this strain of H1N1 isn't very deadly, and that if it were to evolve into something more deadly, you'd be better off just catching this one to help with your immunity for the next.
Yeah I'm worried about this too, but since this 'scare' isn't over yet there's still a risk. What if it'll get serious sometime in the future?
Also, are there lots of people on the street or subway wearing masks?
I mean it'll be summer, so lots of people like City of Rain and I will be visiting NYC, what if H1N1 breaks out (is this the word?) then?
No, no one is wearing masks in the street. The masks are useless for stopping the flu BTW. Anyway, yes, again, its safe to visit the city now, and you won't be dying of swine flu as of yet.
The numbers that you want to pay attention to during this whole swine flu outbreak is what is going on in the southern hemisphere, most notably Australia, since they're the closest model we have for pandemic reactions in the rest of the western world. The media here has sort of muddled it, but Australia's Swine flu numbers exploded to over a thousand overnight in confirmed cases, so in the winter here we should see just as big, if not bigger of an outbreak. Additionally flu strains mutate later in the year, so if H1N1 mutates in Australia then we could be in trouble, but we'd be able to prepare better for it. Otherwise, it will more than likely mutate later this year, which is a wildcard on its affects towards us.
The only people wearing masks in NYC are Asian tourists. And they take them off pretty quickly after they realize how weird they look, with everyone staring at them.
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