Have you experience any change of lifestyle after the H1N1 breakout? Do you get worried when someone else sneezed openly beside you on the train? What would you do if you catch a cold during this pandemic period?
When H1N1 started to spread around the world a few months ago, Malaysian are still at this funny mind state where pandemic will not spread into Malaysia. We are pretty good at blocking out the negative thoughts in our head. Remember those were the days, KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was flooded with people ordering their famous Spicy Chicken during the SARS outbreak. However, travel is by far the biggest contributor to the spread of a worldwide pandemic.
This is a rather bad time for a trip. My advise to you is to stay at home with your PlayStation or your Wii if you’ve been slotted for vacation time. Air Asia will have another big sale soon, no worries for the air ticket burned. While KLIA/LCCT is one of the busiest entry point to Malaysia should be taken extra prevention steps from the virus entering our country which I don’t see when I got back from Korea a month ago. Compared to the check point entering Seoul, passengers are checked one by one. In KLIA, I was just joyfully walking through the crowded check point passing in a H1N1 prevention form and they return me Health Alert Card to present to doctor if I experience any of the symptoms. . No thorough checking. No asking. No extra prevention.
In the busy city of Kuala Lumpur, are the patrons of crowded places doing any prevention step?
Let’s see.
Schools? Wow, 3.6 mil to spend on thermometers, face masks and liquid sanitisers distributed to all schools. So far, I’ve heard 3 schools closed down for a week when found student might be potential swine flu carrier.
Cinema? I used to visit the cinema twice a week. Now, not anymore because I’d be trapped in a closed area for at least 90 minutes of potential exposure H1N1. If only one person is infected in the cinema, that’s it! No prevention actions taken at all at the major cinemas like GSC and TGV.
Clubbing? As a student, I study hard and play as hard too. I used to bar/club hop 10 places a night but now there is only one place in the whole of Klang Valley that I would visit for a little dance - Zouk. The only place that has temperature screening for each clubber before they can enter the indoor area. Qualified healthy clubbers will be stamped with a sticker to make sure others feel safe hanging out around you.
At least 20 to 30 per cent of the Malaysian population are expected to be infected with influenza A (H1N1).
NST 12/08/09 – H1N1: Don’t take pandemic lightly, says WHO rep
Pictures (above) courtesy of Kenny.
Zouk – temperature check on clubbers. 
So, have you seen any preventions step taken? Do holla me ya!
