A survey commissioned by Mansfield Communications Inc recently interviewed 2,029 Americans, out of which 1,232 are full-time and part-time employees, and found that 90% of working Americans do not want a colleague to come to work if they have any H1N1 flu symptoms.
However, a large majority of American workers (84%) believe that people are more likely to show up to work even if they are feeling sick because of the recession, and nearly half of the survey respondents (47%) said they would engage in public activities such as riding the bus, or going grocery shopping even if they believe they are infected with the H1N1 virus.
According to Rob Ireland, former Director if Executive and Internal Communications for Hewlett-Packard's and Partner with Mansfield Communications, “As the number of people infected with H1N1 continues to grow, parallel fear escalates and the potential for mob mentality begins to take shape."
Even though people are becoming increasingly concerned about the swine flu, the survey found that 69 per cent of American workers said they had received no communication about policies in the workplace pertaining to H1N1.
So are we doing better than our neighbours in the south?
On october 13, 2009 Canadian health authorities said they would begin to distribute 1,2 million guides aimed to provide information about how Canadians can protect themselves against the H1N1 virus, and what they should do if they or their family members get sick. The Ministry of Health has also posted a comprehensive overview of the swine flu, and ways that Canadians can protect themselves and their families from contracting the virus.
Canadian Universities are also taking steps to prepare faculty, staff, and students for H1N1. The University of Toronto and York University have issued their pandemic preparedness guidelines, which include information such as what students should do if they have flu-like symptoms. The universities have also installed hand sanitizing stations along with posters explaining flu prevention behaviours.
Additionally, the University of Toronto has implemented a new tool on the Student Web Service ROSI where students are expected to record all flu-related absences; at this time, students will also not be asked to provide a medical certificate for flu-related absences.
The university has also made it possible for faculty, staff, and students to register for Emergency Alerts, a system that allows the university to send voice messages to their mobile phone in an emergency.
According to the Ministry of Health, symptoms of the H1N1 virus are similar to the symptoms of regular seasonal flu, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with H1N1 flu.
If you have the flu, chances are it's the swine flu - so stay at home! Health officials believe H1N1 symptoms are typically mild and go away after three days. You should, however, seek medical attention if your symptoms worsen.
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