H1N1 Precautions

As everybody knows SARS hit the Asian public at a time when they were unprepared and unaware. It was a deadly virus. In the beginning no one knew how to approach it,  so countries scrambled to deal with the epidemic. They learned from their mistakes and set up appropriate safety measures in the event than an outbreak or, worse yet, a pandemic made its way back to Asia.

So you can imagine what happened when the news of an H1N1 outbreak was reported: Asia responded post haste. I mean... two days after I heard about the outbreak in Mexico, my temperature was being monitored everywhere I went in Singapore from the Civilization Museum to work. Television commercials were advising people to check their temperatures regularly and my pastor called the congragation to be socially responsible by checking their temperatures and to behave accordingly. Contingency plans and biosafety departments were being mobilized to ensure that in the event of an infection there would be no mass spread.

Fortunately, the virus has proven to be less virulent than the seasonal flu and Asia has managed to minimize the spread. Although some peoples' toes have been stepped on in the process, I think that public health officials across the continent did their best given what they had to work with. In fact, as far as I know, there are still no confirmed cases of H1N1 in Singapore and the spread of the infection in other Asian nations has been kept to a minimum.

I will admit that I was a little weirded out when I was first scanned at the museum. I mean I was like what? This kind of feels like the man is monitoring us. Technically speaking...he was! The man was prepared to yank anyone with a high fever out of the line and take them to the hospital for test. But its times like these that make you happy that the man is at work...its better to be safe than sorry!

I knew that Singapore was a well organized country, but recent events have only increased my respect for the nation's efficiency. I am confident that if a more dangerous infection were to find its way to Singapore the nation would be prepared to tackle the problem and minimize the risk to the public and the world.