Swine Flu - General Discussion and how it affects Disney

[maroo]

We just had a confirmed case at my kids school this weekend. Don't know who it is, but I got a voicemail from the superintendant confirming it. They just said that if your child has any flu like symptoms to take them to the ER right away...not too much else. I guess we will find out more later. I live in NE Ohio.

Gosh...that suddenly hit close to the DIS home! I am so sorry!

 

[ShannonMB]

Well it looks like I'll be out $600. I wish there was something I could say to Disney reservations so they could be a little more ethical. If they accept that I had requested the insurance and never tacked it on then I'll get billed another $133 and we can sit tight and wait. What I would use as an excuse for canceling though and getting a reschedule hopefully, I don't know.

I guess I don't really see how Disney is being unethical by not allowing you to buy trip insurance after the fact, and not believing you when you lied and said you had originally accepted it. More unethical perhaps to lie and say you purchased something, but really did not? Then threaten with legal action?

I sort of agree with your wife, that you are overreacting a bit by cancelling your trip at this point. But that's just my opinion, of course. You should do what's best for your family! Not sure how you were planning to reschedule, though, since who knows how long this will last OR what else may be on the horizon germ-wise.

A little too early to cancel a trip and/or panic, IMHO.

 

[Tbelle1976]

The confirmed case here in Ohio came from an elementary school, I don't know what grade though, anywhere from K-5. Scary thing is, my DD was home from school this past week for 2 days with the flu. She is feeling fine now though, so I don't know if I should have any worries about it.

 

[3prettyprincesses]

Hmmm, we had a horrible case of the flu about 3 weeks ago. Started with my youngest daugher with a fever, sore throat and body aches. Then moved on to my middle daughter with the same symptoms plus vomiting. We all ended up with it including my DH who hardly ever gets sick. He and I had it the worst and it took longer for us to recover. The body aches were nasty, you just couldn't get comfortable and felt like your joints were going to just kind of come apart or something. Now what was strange was that we always contract the flu around Christmas time in our area yet we all got sick the end of March/beginning of April. I'm wondering if we had a mild case of this swine flu thing then. We did not travel to Mexico though! I just thought it was interesting for us to get the flu so late in the season, you know? It was pretty nasty.

 

[praline3001]

The confirmed case here in Ohio came from an elementary school, I don't know what grade though, anywhere from K-5. Scary thing is, my DD was home from school this past week for 2 days with the flu. She is feeling fine now though, so I don't know if I should have any worries about it.

See, how can a little kid catch it and not the rest of his family? The CDC says there is only 1 case in Ohio

I just read on Fox News about that school in NYC. There were over 75 kids in the nurses office last week. They closed the school Thur and Fri and have been bringing cleaning crews in. The CDC is saying there are 8 confirmed cases?

In Mexico 81 have died yet the CDC is saying 20 confirmed cases in Mexico?

I think there is a lot more people out there with this flu and by the time they are tested, get the results back and the CDC goes through the investigation and red tape ...errr then we are the last to hear it.

Our Gov. just gave a new conference about the flu. He said he full expects it to be in our state in the *days to come* his words ~ we have a lot of travelers that come to our city.

I am curious as to how many unconfirmed cases there are.

 

[BBQMonster]

I guess I don't really see how Disney is being unethical by not allowing you to buy trip insurance after the fact, and not believing you when you lied and said you had originally accepted it. More unethical perhaps to lie and say you purchased something, but really did not? Then threaten with legal action?

I sort of agree with your wife, that you are overreacting a bit by cancelling your trip at this point. But that's just my opinion, of course. You should do what's best for your family! Not sure how you were planning to reschedule, though, since who knows how long this will last OR what else may be on the horizon germ-wise.

A little too early to cancel a trip and/or panic, IMHO.

I agree. Time for a little personal responsibility.

 

[vellamint]

My poor boy (well man really - he is 18) has NEVER been this sick. Fever, body aches, sore throat, vomited at the 48 hour mark, and a cough that just wont quit. The dr. said (Wednesday) it was bronchitus and a sinus infection.....5 days later and he is still coughing his lungs up and this is with being on antibiotics for 5 days, oral prednisone and an albuteral inhaler.

Its been 9 days and I cant wait to get him back to the Dr. tomorrow.......

 

[ktbug103]

I wondered how long it would take hysteria to break out on the DIS. As usual not long at ALL!

However, since I am going in a few weeks I think everyone should stay home! I mean why risk your family. Of course staying home means JUST that. Don't go to the mall, don't send the kids to school, camp, sports practice, don't go to work, do NOT leave the house. That should protect you from Swine Flu (and life, but....)


As for me, I am getting on a plane tomorrow and flying to TEXAS (GASP, the risk LOL!) and I am not really worried. I have read and seen what's on the news. I also work in healthcare. I just measure the risk and IMHO hysteria is not yet called for!

I am no where near calling off our trip yet. It would have to get MUCH worse. If we're talking about mass outbreaks in every single state - we'll be home. But it is exactly like you said - that is when you won't be able to go ANYWHERE. There will be much more to worry about at that point other than Disney.

Chances are this will be nothing. But there is a slim chance it will turn into a large pandemic. We are actually due for one. It's way too soon to tell at this point and the chances are against it being anything major - but only time will tell.

 

[ntsammy5]

I agree with Carol - everyone else call off your trip!

 

[blurrycat]

I'm so glad you came out of lurkdom

I'll be there when you are - I'll make sure to watch for you. I'm sure by then everything will be fine

Thank you for the welcome! Hopefully you'll just find me with a green mickey, and not in a bubble.

 

[Kelblum]

Everyone needs to stay calm. Remember SARS? That had the potential to be a far worse situation because it was a bacteria that was resistant to even the strongest antibiotics. It had a very high fatality rate. Eventually it fizzled out after everyone began taking precautions.
At least so far with this swine flu in the U.S., cases have been mild and it is responding to anti-viral medications.
Keep in mind the 24 hour news channels need people to stay worried so they keep tuning in to their stations for breaking news. In my opinion, they are feeding the fear.
Just use your common sense: If you don't feel well, drink fluids, rest and if you are running a fever or get worse, see the doctor.
Keep washing your hands and cover your mouth when you sneeze and cough.
I believe it will be okay and usually I am a very anxious, pessimistic person.

Perfectly stated!!

 

[cwf1028]

We are leaving in 4 weeks and my only concern is that they will close Disney World before I get there. Assuming that won't happen, we will be there. We will wash our hands before we eat and I will clean the room a bit once we arrive, but this is what we always do when traveling. Life is short and I've waited for this trip too long to cancel now!

 

[Tiger926]

We now have several confirmed cases here in Canada as well - BC and Nova Scotia are on opposite ends of the country, but where I live, I'm just a few hours from Ohio and right across from Michigan.

I just had a student return from Spring Break on a Mexican cruise with his family over 5 weeks ago and he's fine, so that's good as I have an asthmatic baby (he just ear tube and adenoid removal surgery a few days ago) to worry about.

I surely hope this can be contained as we lived through the SARS outbreak a few years ago here in Ontario, and people seemed to do a pretty good job of dealing with it.

Good health to all, Tiger

 

[jewjubean]

Hmm well i live in Louisiana and we just had Jazz festival and the Festival international this week. Im going stock up on soap/antibatcteral wipes

 

[praline3001]

Hmm well i live in Louisiana and we just had Jazz festival and the Festival international this week. Im going stock up on soap/antibatcteral wipes

Did you see the press conference with Jindel this evening?
He is full expecting our state to have cases in the days to come.

 

[sandym718]

The confirmed case here in Ohio came from an elementary school, I don't know what grade though, anywhere from K-5. Scary thing is, my DD was home from school this past week for 2 days with the flu. She is feeling fine now though, so I don't know if I should have any worries about it.

TBelle, you must live close to me. We're about 15 mins from that school. I hope your DD is fine, I'm sure she will be. i heard the family, who has no symptoms, has tested negative.

 

[luvthemouse71]

What concerns me about this is that they are saying that people don't have a natural immunity to the virus. Also, the fact that this virus attacks the young and healthy(much like avian flu and I believe the 1918 pandemic) scares me. Don't forget, if this thing does go into a global pandemic, this will strain an already weak economy, resources (Tamiflu, masks etc) may be scant therefore leading to violence. The virus itself may end up being the least of our problems...It's been proven that our country may not be able to handle the mess that comes with disaster(ie Hurricane Katrina).

For example, I work in a hospital. What's going to happen once the doctors and nurses start getting sick? Or people decide not to come into work and put themselves at risk?

So, I've been putting supplies aside(food, water, masks). Can't hurt. They are there if I need them and if we don't, I save them for another catastrophe.

As of now, still planning on going to WDW. No plans of sealing myself in a bubble(yet ).

 

[hockeymomNS]

Twenty suspected cases now in Nova Scotia.....4 confirmed and only one of them was in Mexico.

 

[A&Bmama]

Twenty suspected cases now in Nova Scotia.....4 confirmed and only one of them was in Mexico.

20!

I hadn't heard that yet. Is it still centred at Kings Edgehill or is it more widespread now?

 

[Lucky4me]

We got the best deal right around the SARS scare in Toronto.
We stayed in a 4* Marriott downtown for $25 a night and went to a Rolling Stones concert for $10. We saw Cheap Trick, the Stones, Justin Timberlake and a few other bands I can't remember with 500,000 of our closest friends.
That has nothing really to do with the topic, except I remember our friends thinking we were nuts. We had a blast and came home healthy and happy.