Swine flu has hit DLSU and caused classes to be delayed for 2 weeks while the institution imposes self quarantine for all it’s faculty, adminstrative staff and students.

Over dinner I was wondering why DLSU Taft, why a private school, why did it not rear its ugly virulent head in a public school.  The simple answer is, that upper middle-class and upper class students have the capacity to travel; thus increasing exposure and possibly infection.  Be mobile (outside the country), and you are at a higher risk level.

Students in the public school system have very little chance of getting the virus.  Not unless their OFW parents or relatives visit them and may be potential carriers.  Otherwise, the chances of infection for these students are close to nil.  So why then focus the washing of the hands demonstration in the public school system if they belong to the low risk group; don’t ask me, ask the ‘wash’-man.  At least our public school students are starting early on proper hygene, washing their hands properly and constantly.

This is not to say that students from the more affluent segment of society know how to wash their hands while singing ‘happy birthday to you’ twice.  Try to find out and you will be surprised with the answer – I believe they are no more different.  Yet because of the mobility of this segment of the student population, they become more risk because of the ‘unclean’ environments they may find themselves going into.

Kudos to DLSU for acting swiftly and with decisiveness. They could have ignored the situtation and made life to continue, and get people sick.  But they closed shop, asked everybody to quarantine themselves, and, hopefully, when the doors of Taft are opened on the 15th, everyone is healthy and know better how to deal with such a situation.

Still the moral of the story is, ‘wash, wash, wash and wash’!  Stay healthy!

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