I'm living through my second swine flu (H1N1) outbreak in two months on two continents. Although people are moderately freaked out about it (I came home from work the other day and the kids on my floor were playing in the hall wearing face masks), that doesn't mean that people are covering their mouths when they cough, or have stopped spitting on the streets. Public health education has a long way to go!

Notice in the office - but why not ask people to cover their mouths!


Indians have perfected drinking from bottles without touching the rim - something I'm not very good at. I don't plan to start sharing germs along with my water, so I brought a cup to work. My gym's stopped providing water bottles, but we don't have any way to clean off the machines ourselves (there's a worker for that). I hope MRSA isn't a problem!

Seen in many a fine hotel these days - hand sanitizing stations