OK, this whole germ thing is starting to get a little freaky.
When 972 students failed to show up yesterday, St. Charles East High School canceled its classes and extracurricular activities for the rest of the week. That’s almost one-half of the student population! Officials said many students exhibited flu-like symptoms.
Being a creature of the Cold War, I’m blaming the Ruskies for the widespread illness in the United States. I don’t care if the Soviet Union dissolved nearly 20 years ago — the commies are up to something.
The news that half a high school has been impacted by disease can’t be comforting at all to local hypochondriacs. I’ve never obsessed about picking up bugs from other people, but the empirical evidence has given me plenty of doubts.
Do I really want to pick up that telephone receiver? Can I trust that this dish doesn’t have some virus? Has this hallway recently been occupied by someone who’s passing out bacteria faster than Santa doles out gifts at Christmastime?
Perhaps people like Adrian Monk are on to something. Sure, they spend their lives afraid that their own shadow is going to make them sick. But I’ll bet they actually stay pretty healthy.
So, are you a germaphobe? Do you fixate over every tiny bug you may encounter? How has the outbreak of the flu (including H1N1) altered your daily routine?
I’d love to hear some stories, so please let me know. You can leave a message here, or you can e-mail me at jmoore@musuburbanlife.com. But please wear a mask and surgical gloves when you contact me, just in case.
Stumble It!
1 Comment
October 27, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, I feel the same way sometimes. Catch myself using hand sanitizer every time I finish being around a group of people. The sickness is definitely going around.