独一无二, 无尽的爱

Every winter, the flu epidemy causes the local authorities a lot of concern. Actually the flu “season” in BJ starts around October and tails off at the end of March. Right now is the peak season. Beijing hospitals are examining about 4,700 new cases daily.

No need to say that some friends are telling me to be careful about this flu, as it’s not ‘normal’ flu, but rather a strong virus flu, whatever that means. Last year when I was in SH, the teachers at uni were saying the same story… Every so many years, there is a strong flu virus that comes and affects the population, and we’re due for it. Well, maybe there is a virus, but I’m still going through the same routine, and only wearing my padded coat over my tshirt (at times I also wear a sweater inside), no scarf, no gloves, no ear muff… I guess I would be a good candidate for catching that nasty cold. If I stayed out for long that is.

SARS has resulted in the Chinese govt taking more actions about preventing the propagation of diseases, but flu is not something easy to control, even in developed countries. The number of people that keep coming into and leaving the city on a daily basis and the fact that many people still often don’t wear the face mask when sick means flu will propagate. And sometimes we think that the cold is just a small one, and won’t even bother to take proper medicine.

I saw on the net that the Chinese are advised to take day offs instead of going to work and spread it among their colleagues. In today’s world, where so much are expected from the employees, and where taking days off mean losing part of your pay, not all of them will do so. Hey, when I was working back home, the sick colleagues would often turn up for work as the workload and tight deadlines meant you HAD to be there. It was almost a ‘the only reasonable excuse to skip work would be if you’re dead’ sentiment. So, I guess we will be stuck with flu, cold and cough every winter.