Barb Gustafson

H1N1 is the topic of the week in Saskatchewan, just as it is elsewhere. While the Alberta provincial government is getting dumped on, so we hear, for allowing open vaccination clinics and quickly running out of vaccine, Saskatchewan provincial health officials are getting kudos for their approach.

So far, only health care providers have been vaccinated, and this week, high risk individuals are getting their shots. That group includes small children, people with chronic health problems, those living in remote communities, and aboriginal people.

Next week – maybe, if enough vaccine arrives – the general public will get their shot at preventing the flu from spreading.

The flu is already here, in many places. The University of Saskatchewan residences have had cases confirmed. The plan there is that affected students are to rest and stay in their rooms, or go home to let mom take care of them. If they stay at residence, they have “flu buddies” who will bring them food and tissues.

Classes are being monitored for attendance, to see if it drops by 10 per cent or more. My daughter is in a “sentinel class” that’s more closely monitored, based on it being one where attendance is virtually mandatory.

Many elementary and high schools are reporting a drop in attendance of more than 10 per cent, attributed to the flu. A couple of boarding schools in the province have been hit particularly hard.

While all this is going on, it’s also interesting to observe the psychological impact of this pandemic. Is it really worse than any other year? Or is it the media attention and political posturing that has made us think it is?

In Ottawa, the Liberal Opposition was quick to pounce on the fact that vaccine shipments have been curtailed; the government should have ordered earlier and been ready, they pronounced, during a late-night emergency debate. (Does anyone really believe an emergency debate in the House of Commons is going to change the number of people who will get the flu?)

Certain occupational groups have been jumping on the bandwagon, demanding they move up the queue as being essential services. Yes, police and fire are essential services, however, their likelihood of getting the flu seems to be about the same as the rest of the population, so wash your hands and wait your turn. If it’s truly a pandemic, I see crime going down, not up.

Has all of this attention changed our behaviour? I think so, to some extent. People who are unconvinced about vaccination in general and/or convinced of their own invincibility to germs and viruses (like my husband) are actually planning to be vaccinated. Most of us are keeping our workplaces cleaner and washing our hands more frequently. I’m all for keeping things cleaner and teaching students to wash their hands. Maybe that change in behaviour will stick – we can hope.

Or is this, as some say, just the latest in the Y2K – 9/11 – global recession panic attacks? It might be a good time to talk to some seniors about some of the things they survived: the Great Depression, the Second World War, polio, and a whole lot more. We’d likely get a new perspective on what we can survive, and it could keep us amused until it’s our turn to get the needle in the arm.

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