NEW YORK — New Yorker Michelle Henriques was startled the other day on her subway commute to hear a man’s cough greeted by a gruff reply from a fellow passenger: “Hey, would you mind covering your mouth?”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard that,” says Henriques.
For Henriques, 29, the morning continued with a hasty trip to a drugstore to buy a half-dozen bottles of hand sanitizer for the office.
“We placed them all over, near the kitchen, the bathrooms, the copying machine, the mailboxes,” she says.
And it seems many New Yorkers have been making similar trips to pharmacies over the past few days: Surgical masks were sold out at some.
A new Gallup poll indicates, however, that most Americans have not changed their behavior in significant ways. Conducted Tuesday night, it found that only 1 percent to 3 percent of those questioned had, the day before, canceled a trip; opted out of mass transit, shopping or eating out; missed work; or kept a child out of school.
Churches alter hands-on worship
BOSTON — When worshipers clasp hands with each other to “pass the peace” or share the communion cup, religious leaders want to be sure they don’t also pass on swine flu.
Catholic churches in many dioceses with confirmed cases of the flu will not offer communion wine, and parishioners have been urged to bow or nod instead of offering a handshake.
Imams have been told the Friday communal prayer can be canceled and done privately. Rabbis are making hand sanitizer available to stave off germs that could be passed when the Torah is touched as it is carried throughout the synagogue.
Infected doctor treated 22 kids
EVERETT, Wash. — A Washington pediatrician who thought she was battling allergies saw 22 patients and their parents before testing positive for what is believed to be swine flu.
Dr. Yuan-Po Tu, medical director of The Everett Clinic, said Thursday that the pediatrician tested positive for the flu, and it was presumed to be swine flu.
