How will you prepare in case of a Flu Pandemic

[bigleo48]

I know...this one was bound to be posted at one point.

But yesterday I got an interesting email from the landlord of the office building I work in. Among other things, they mentioned that they were tripling their cleaning and disinfection efforts starting today. That got me thinking...(not always a good thing).

Since we are attended, I was thinking of having my guys clean/disinfect coin boxes, guns, change machine, etc...and post that we do so. We have a spray tank we use to disinfect the Pet wash, so an extra walk around won't take much effort.

I don't think we are at that point (or hopefully ever get there), but it's worth starting to think it through.

If it does go to level 6 and a full pandemic is occurring, what is everyone thinking of doing? I can't imagine washing cars will be a priority. Or perhaps a disinfectant soap pass might be popular. Not really sure what to make of this.

BigLeo

 

[pitzerwm]

Taking advantage of what is dealt to you is the true way to success. If people are scared, anything you do that seems to aleave their fear can't help but reap benefits. See how much those mask are and sell or give them away at your wash.

Personally, if you read a bit, the regular flu kills thousands each year and you pretty much never hear anything, but "get a flu shot", so the panic that is accompanying this one is amazing. Of course our genius VP makes a stupid statement today about hiding in your house and not to go anywhere.

 

[jimbeaux]

You know, I hear all the hype & then see the reality of what is actually happening (or not happening) and I'm thinking "could this really be real, & disaster is right around the corner"? Or maybe Big Brother is playing a shell game & trying to get our minds off of the reality of our march to socialism!
I know I'm probably too skeptical but that is the way I am thinking lately.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I have never been a conspiracy theorist....but it seems like they are having us focus on one thing, while they do something shady behind our backs. I for one think that the media has perpetuated this into something much bigger than it is. If I am wrong, it doesn't really matter. What will be, will be.

As far as the wash is concerned. I spray my guns and vac hoses 2x's weekly with 70% rubbing alcohol to keep the germs down. I'm sort of a clean freak in that sense. Maybe advertising that wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[MEP001]

I've been considering this for a while, and now I'll do it tomorrow: mount an antibacterial hand soap dispenser over the wringer sink. I didn't want to because I figured too many people would abuse it by washing floormats and stuff with it, but I'm sure enough will appreciate it to make it worthwhile.

 

[ruggerwash]

Yes they are diverting our attention. They don't want people to think too hard about the Chrysler situation. Lets look at it closely...Chrysler issues a restructuring plan before Fiat is even in the picture- it gets denied by the President. Then the president urges them to merge with Fiat, which will supposedly "prevent" them from going under and put them on track for revival. Chrysler has to file bankruptcy and the Government gives them 8 billion dollars. So now Fiat has essentially bought out one of the biggest American companies with no money down, and gets to dump all of the obligations they have to old Chrysler employees (pensions, healthcare, union contracts, etc) because they are bankrupt, and Fiat now has 8 Billion dollars, and an obligation-free environment to restructure the company the way they want to- which I can assure you will not include paying employees as much as Ford, and importing all materials- which will allow them to sell cheaper and corner the market. We have just been attacked big time, and we don't even know it because they hyped up some stupid flu that won't kill nearly as many people as the "regular" flu. But hey...Fiats need to get washed too right?

 

[mac]

Sometimes my faith in regular people gets restored by coming to this site. I have been scratching my head over this so called epidemic ever since big brother announced it, and concluded what most of you came to. Get worried about this, don't look at the man behind the curtain, or in this case the man who writes B. Hussain Obama's teleprompter, and then we will miraculousy fix this made up event. After spending more billions and creating another czar.

 

[Chiefs]

BINGO Jimbeaux!

Already the pandemic in Mexico is plateauing. This is classic fear mongering designed to keep the minds of the American people off the unprecedented expansion of government by our new Messiah Barack. America.... R.I.P.

 

[Waxman]

Look, the whole thing is blown way way up.

It's always a good idea to keep your equipment sanitary for your customers.

Here are a few things to be more concerned about as far as keeping spray guns, etc. clean for use:

1. Septic bacteria.

2. Other bacteria.

Keeping cars clean and therefore safer for the motorist probably aids more in actually saving lives than any sanitizing of your equipment when you consider the amount of traffic accidents and deaths daily. I'd guess many crashes are caused by poor visibility and your carwashes and detail shops are a great help to keeping cars in general safer.

 

[rph9168]

Sometimes I think these things are blown way out of proportion just to take our minds off our country's real problems. I read that last year over 35,000 people in this country died from the flu. That sounds to me a little more serious than the current health scare. Personally I am more afraid of the path our country is being led down currently than any flu virus.

 

[Dean Taylor]

If you want to really sanitize all the surfaces, check this out

http://catec.com/surface_disinfection.htm

 

[robert roman]

Thank god for common sense which will eventually prevail.

Like Bill referred to, this new flu doesn't appear any worse, in terms of fatalities, than other flu strains. Throw in the CDC and, of course, the media frenzy and you'd think the human race is on the verge of last days.

The country is not going to hell in a hand basket. If unemployment is 9%, this means that employment is 91%. Actually, unemployment was a lot worse (10.8% nationwide) during the 80's recession periods of which there were several. Is the economy going to get a little worse before it gets better, absolutely. Are we going to come out of this towards another economic expansion, absolutely.

Get a grip.

 

[Greg Pack]

Monday morning quarterbacking on this thing is easy. But, I think the US gov't was prudent. Early on in Mexico, it was looking like this flu had potentially about a 6-7% mortality rate, and it was adults in their prime succumbing, not the infirm. Couple that with the potential virulence like that of the 1918 Spanish flu (30% of the world population had it) and we could potentially have been looking at five million Americans , many "in their prime" dead from it.

Now it looks like the flu (with good health care system ) does not have a unusually high mortality rate, so it looks like it might be safe for me to come back out of my positive pressure room.. But a week ago this thing was a legitimate concern.

Even if this flu is just a highly contagious nasty virus that makes people wish they were dead for a couple of days, it will have an impact on lots of things, including a bump on the economy. It could also overload our current medical system.

I would still keep an eye on it, these things mutate, become resistant to treatment and can get more (or for that matter less) dangerous.

Another fun fact, 30% transmission would mean 100 million American residents would have gotten it, but we only had 50 million doses of anti-virals.

 

[MikeV]

I'm not buying into all the hype about swine flu. The regular old flu that goes around every year kills and infects more people than the swine flu has, but you never hear anything about it. I think this is just a government distraction to take your mind off of all the other crap this admin is pulling .

 

[Dean Taylor]

It's amazing how a handful of Swine Flu cases can trigger the "panic" in people. I was in church yesterday and the lady next to me wouldn't shake hands during the morning greeting. She said " that's how that nasty swine flu is transmitted you know" I thought to myself "how ignorant people are"... In reality, it's the damn media that has created this.

Here are the stastical facts for the flu in the US. (copied from an official US Government Site)

In the U.S., an estimated 25?50 million cases of the flu are currently reported each year ? leading to 150,000 hospitalizations and 30,000?40,000 deaths yearly. If these figures were to be estimated incorporating the rest of the world, there would be an average of approximately 1 billion cases of flu, around 3?5 million cases of severe illness, and 300,000?500,000 deaths annually.

The Current Swine Flu strain has affected only a few hundred people in the US so far. A mere drop in the bucket as compared to all other strains of flu.

I can see a reason for concern however, I would be more concerned with our wonderful media and how they can control people by spreading their sickness of "hype".

I'd also venture to say the media has played a big part in the recession we are currently in. When they say "the sky is falling" people get scared and pull out their investments, triggering an avalanche.

 

[Red Baron]

I thought about this and decided that:
1. It's blown way out of proportion.
2. Swine Flu thus far is nonexistant in our area.
3. If I call attention to it my customers may begin thinking about germs they could get from my wands but likely won't.

I don't want to risk raising a fear that doesn't exist here. I'll sanitize, quietly. Then if Swine Flu gets to our area, then I'll think about letting the public know the precautions we're taking.

 

[bigleo48]

Man did I push the button to get all this attention. My point was merely from a car wash operator and to see if any of you have given the thought of what you would do if this flu or any other became a pandemic and affected your community. Most of us are not qualified or experience to judge this properly, but we seem to all feel it is overblown. I have a couple of friends that are doctors and although not panicking by any means, they are very concerned. We can discuss the developments in another posting. But let me ask those of you who seem convinced that this is overblown and a detraction from the economic concerns. What if you're wrong?

For most of my life I have been working in the Telecommunications and emergency services has been ingrained in my psyche. I've been always trained to think about the "what if this happens", but with equipment and networks, not people...yet the principles are the same. So I examine and dissect. When considering the information from credible sources (Mexico not being high on the list), this to me is not hype, but a red flag. What remains to be determined is the virulence of the virus.

BigLeo

 

[termn8tr]

kick back and enjoy some Jack. Stress will kill most of us before any damn swine flu will.