The Flu Has Finally Reached Me

[written on Friday, 31 July]

These are uncertain times that I am in now. MARA College Banting has officially closed its doors for at least one week due to the recent H1N1 scare that I thought would never affect me, but here we are in such uncertain times. It was only the day before when I heard that there was one suspected case of H1N1. Then yesterday there were four suspected cases. It was such a commotion, as everything was heard from someone else, and no one was sure what was really happening; I heard rumours from the mak ciks at the co-op, hearsays from friends and finally a little more concrete information from teachers; but we were all still quite in the dark, until this afternoon.

At 3 in the afternoon, there was a briefing in the college about the H1N1 outbreak, which cleared the cloud of doubt surrounding the whole issue. An ENT specialist and his professor wife came to give a concise but complete talk about the flu, its causes, symptoms and ways to prevent it. Basically, you would have reason for alarm if you had a fever, runny nose, or sore throat, or a combination of these, or other related illnesses. The good news is, over 90% of those who contracted this disease can recover without antiviral treatment. You just need a lot of rest and fluids for the virus to go away within 7 days. The most important things to do to avoid the disease is social distancing, cough etiquette, not sharing anything, and washing hands regularly. And pray.

Anyway, there were some discrete statistics given to us; there are 1302 cases and 4 deaths in Malaysia so far. 30 students in the college apparently showed symptoms and so are under suspicion of disease; there has been one confirmed case in the college. During the talk, the director said that there was 80% chance that the college will shut down, but I have recently received information that the college is officially under quarantine until 9th August. That is terrific news, until we found out that the school days will be replaced during the December holidays, which means a shorter end-of-year semester break, which sucks. But this is definitely a welcome relief for a hectic past few weeks of lab reports, standardized tests and homework.

I welcome the extra sleep I can get. But I just have to be careful not to get sick. I must not get sick while I stay at my Banting home for the next 9 days with my dad and Evan Sun.