Swine Flu in my District - At School for a While...

Wow, so things are kind of crazy right now. Already this morning, I have noticed a lot more people wearing masks and there was a huge info board in front of the ticket machines at my station this morning about influenza and how to protect yourself.

When I arrived at work, there was a table waiting by the shoe lockers providing us with sick masks, ethenol spray for our hands and they even had a box of thermometers to check our tempature (immediately) if we haven't been feeling well. Pretty intense...

I am still at work and we just got out of the emergency staff meeting that the principal called yesterday. I unfortunately took my school laptop home with me Thursday night so I could use it for the presentation in Aioi on Friday but I am using a coworkers computer to check the Japanese news in English (and thought I'd also jump on here... shh).

So here is the situation as it stands. Three kids in Kobe (or it sounds like maybe 4 now?) have been confirmed as having swine flu. We just finished the Golden Week holidays, probably one of the most popular times to travel abroad in Japan, so I am not that suprised that the first case of swine flu would come immediately after we resumed a regular working schedule nationally (or at the end of the holiday, as with the cases in Tokyo), but what makes the Kobe cases strange is that the infected kids never left Japan. My friend Kym works at the school that these kids go to and it sounds like they have quaruntined anyone that is slightly sick (including my friend) and are cancelling school trips abroad for now.

The problem and reason for the worry at my school right now, however, is that it doesn't stop with those three or four kids for our area. The kids in Kobe are apparently all on the same volleyball team and last week, they played in a tournament in Takasago, the town I work in. As of last night, there seem to be approx. 6 more swine flu cases (maybe confirmed?) from students at Takasago High School, which is about a 15 minute walk from Takasago Minami, where I work. This was also a prefectural volleyball tournie, so there were teams from all over the prefecture, not just my district, which is also fueling concern on the part of the Board of Education and teachers in general.

I didn't understand all the announcements during our meeting today (which involved the principal just giving us news - in very fast Japanese - for 20 minutes, followed by a review of our handouts and procedure explanations), but it sounds like a teacher somewhere in the prefecture is also sick, as well as kids at Hyogo High School (?) and Harima Minami, also in my immediate school district.

So what are we going to do? Well, one week ago, the Hyogo Board of Education and greater Ministry of Education published a statement telling school staff to prepare for 3 days of provisions because school would be cancelled for one week (and they would be potentially confined?) if one case in Kansai was confirmed. The government is now changing it's stance, but they are definitely taking a very professional, stern and swift approach.

Right now, the staff room is sort of buzzing as student phone networks are being iniated and all 1,000 kids at my school are called. If anyone has not been feeling well, they will be asked to come to school between 10 and 11:30 today to get tested. Anyone that has gone abroad must also be tested. Not sure what they are going to do if people aren't home, but for now, that's the game plan.

I asked a coworker if I was included in the group to be tested since I came back from the Philippines last Sunday, but I am fine because the doctor confirmed I am clear of the pig flu last week.

I still stand by the statement that I am getting sick of the media drama surrounding swine flu (not to mention I have counted three pretty major spelling errors in CNN.com's articles this week), but it is interesting how the story keeps getting closer to home. On the other side of the Pacific, even my mother was given Tamiflu yesterday because she isn't feeling well and they didn't want to take any chances. Another friend here in Japan came back from Singapore not feeling well last week and was detained in Tokyo and put on an IV because they suspected she could have swine flu, but she was eventually cleared and let go. Personally, I am still not feeling perfect myself (stomach is still a mess, but I could finally eat vegetables at dinner last night - yay!), but because I do not satisfy all 3-4 symptoms of swine flu (which includes a cough, but always a fever as well), it's thankfully not considered a threat.

That being said, I got a message from a friend early this morning asking if my illness started with a sore throat and headache (which it did...). Turns out I had given someone the half bowl of ramen I couldn't finish at dinner on Friday and now they have whatever I have, too, so I should be careful.

Anyways, I have a book and my iPod with me, so think I am going to read the news for a while and then finish my book before our next staff meeting after the kids are tested (around 12). We were told we should also have a decision and announcement from the Hyogo Board of Education by then, telling us if school - and what schools - will be closed. We've been informed that we will most likely be closed for a week due to our proximity to the latest cases, but this whole situation is obviously developing (hmm, and hopefully it's cool that I'm sharing this information...). I am just curious if we will still have to come to work if the kids don't.

This is definitely a new situation for me - for any country, I suppose - and I have to admit that while it's really terrible that people are getting sick and I really hope I/we don't get quaruntined, I am also a little jazzed up about the excitement and having something new going on...

Updates later. Off to read the news...

Click here to read more about the Kobe cases. Surprised they closed 75 schools in the prefecture already, but also shockingly progressive that Kobe city has established a hotline for non-Japanese speakers seeking more information on the flu and health services available (080-6115-9901, 9-5). Love it.