"In high-traffic areas, officials scrub, educate" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff | May 2, 2009
Tens of thousands of people will pack into Gillette Stadium today to see the Dalai Lama. Thousands are expected at TD Banknorth Garden tonight to watch the Celtics play. Hundreds more can be expected to visit Boston Common, local malls, or movie theaters over the weekend.
Hey, cancel the game!
:-)
As fears grow about the swine flu outbreak, officials in charge of the state's large gathering places are taking special precautions to prevent the virus from taking root.
While some are simply reminding people of common-sense precautions such as hand-washing, others - including the MBTA and Logan International Airport - are scrubbing high-traffic areas with more frequency or turning to powerful antiviral cleaning agents.
While doctors say washing hands - or using alcohol-based sanitizers - can slow the spread of the virus, it is unclear whether more aggressive cleaning or powerful disinfectants give added protection.
"It is a losing proposition unless they wipe down every single surface," said Selim Suner, associate professor of emergency medicine, surgery, and engineering at Brown University. "And as soon as the first person touches it [the protection] is gone. It's much more effective for people to wash their hands."
Yet officials said they want to take as many precautions as possible to quell public fears and prevent the spread of the virus.
Norwegian Cruise Line, which kicked off Boston's season yesterday with a 2,000-passenger cruise to Bermuda, is screening all their cruise ship passengers - and will not allow anyone on board who meets the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of a suspected swine flu case.
The ship that left Boston yesterday was in Mexico over a week ago, but there has been no sign of the virus and the ship was thoroughly disinfected and cleaned, said spokeswoman AnnMarie Mathews.
Meanwhile, Amtrak officials have activated its pandemic flu plan, which includes a daily safety briefing to discuss symptoms of the H1N1 virus. MBTA cleaning crews are now giving special cleaning to seats, handrails, and grab bars on subway cars, trains, and buses. Today, MGH Institute of Health Professions will forgo the traditional handshake between graduates and school officials during commencement exercises.
Massachusetts Port Authority officials have been working with state and Boston health officials, the CDC, and airlines to review outbreak plans and make sure information is available to those who need it. They placed alcohol-based hand cleaner dispensers at its information booths and instructed Logan Airport cleaners to use antiviral disinfectants and give special attention to contact points such as buttons, knobs, and handrails.
This is as bad as the hand-lotion and liquid scare, folks, and I'm sure that's the point.
That cleaning service, UGL Unicco - New England's largest cleaning and facility services company - sent an e-mail to its 800 customers yesterday outlining ideas they could choose from to protect against swine flu.
"Some were very simple such as reminding people about hand-washing to increasing cleaning frequency of high-traffic areas," said George Lohnes, vice president for marketing of Unicco.
While officials took extra precautions, there were signs of public concern.
At Logan Airport, a woman wore a face mask. On the Red Line yesterday afternoon, a woman wore a white bandana wrapped around her face as she waited for an outbound train.
Day-care centers posted notes and handed out fliers asking parents to keep sick children home and listing symptoms of swine flu. At TD Banknorth Garden, officials said they were taking guidance from the state Department of Public Health - and that guidance sounded a lot like your mother's advice: Don't be around other people if you are sick. Cover you mouth if you cough or sneeze. And wash your hands.
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