Um, Purelle?

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are great, but at some time after the fifth coughing fit and before the 30th sneeze, the skin on the victim's hands dries completely out and begins to burn. I say this based on personal experience as well as observation of coworkers. Even using lotion after every use does not fully protect from that. And sooner or later, the pain will lead to less than full compliance.

I know -- I had to edit, because I worded it incorrectly.

Oh FINE, make me look like a crazy(er) person.

Question for y'all that will produce instant data to further the discussion on transmission of such diseases: When you are washing your hands, how do you make yourself lather away for a sufficient length of time (20-30 seconds)?

I do. At my current office it means re-starting the automatic faucet a couple of times. It's annoying.

The literature is rather confusing regarding exactly how H1N1 is presenting, IMHO. I know a number of people who've been very ill for weeks, but no one who's been hospitalized. But then, H1N1 hospitalizations in the UK don't seem to have been in very high numbers at all - [link] - that is, if I'm interpreting the data correctly. (I'm dyspraxic. It's very possible that I've read those charts entirely wrong.)

Insert my rant about Americans without/with-crap healthcare skewing our statistics and compromising our ability as a society to fight epidemics HERE.

Is the UK getting a different result because bunches of mid-level sick people DO exist and actually seek medical treatment? Are more Americans becoming critical because they put off/forego medical treatment?

I know -- I had to edit, because I worded it incorrectly.

Oh FINE, make me look like a crazy(er) person.

That's the secret power of the editor. It's a small power, but awesome.

They're also nowhere near as effective as hand-washing. And unless the school district is relatively wealthy, teachers will have to supply their own.

Yeah, Calli, If my first thought is "And?", it's a ker-FAUX-ful and it doesn't matter much to me if it's on a feminist basis or "Ew, Democratic cooties."*(Although I'll try to make up with the feminists cause I like to think we're homegirls.) But, just between you and me, I AM kinda in the tank for him, anyway. It is so *NICE* not to have to parse what a Democrat is thinking that sometimes I find it a little erotic. And unlike my man Keith(though I totally dig a big lexicon) I don't often have to run to my dictionary or think "Okay, which one was Disraeli again?"(Or Ty Cobb, or...) when he speaks. Also, he was once *literally* thrown under a bus as a boy, so I hope he can help that, um, die quickly, as an expression.

Ok, we totally need a doctor to weigh in here. On such short notice, this is the best I could do: [link]

I am terrible at washing with soap. I can't stand 99% of the scents they put in soap and it drives me crazy when my hands smell fruity or like some other strong smell. I do like foam soaps, though, because they rarely seem to smell as strong.

We use Dr Bronner's baby soap in a foam dispenser at home - it barely smells like anything, and the foam helps Dylan see where he needs to wash/rinse.

Yeah, Calli, If my first thought is "And?", it's a ker-FAUX-ful and it doesn't matter much to me if it's on a feminist basis or "Ew, Democratic cooties."*(Although I'll try to make up with the feminists cause I like to think we're homegirls.)

I'm going to disagree. I think he was right to apologize, and he framed his apology exactly right. Yes, "K Street Whores" is both a common and as-close-to-factual-without-involving-actual-sex descriptor as you can get. And I do think if he'd been talking about a man in the same position he'd have used the same language.

But, also, there's is an additional context to describing a woman as a whore that shouldn't be ignored. He was right to acknowledge that.

My handwashing is often not up to snuff, because I have the compression sleeve on and handwashing is difficult as a one hand plus the fingers of the other hand operation. Also, public restroom soap almost invariably is scented with something I'm allergic to.