On Swine Flu, Travel and Homeschooling
Note: I am currently based in Asia.
A few days before we were set to fly to Thailand for a week's holiday, I was so close to canceling the trip. Not only was Thailand included in the list of countries with community spread of swine flu, it was also my son's last week of school holidays, so if he does fall sick, he would have to miss the first few days of classes. Not a good start into the term. I was chastising myself for not having considered these before I made the bookings, but then, at the time, there wasn't a single case of swine flu in Southeast Asia. How was i supposed to know it will spread like fire, and from zero, the number of cases in the region has grown exponentially!
Although we were armed with hand sanitizers and N95 face masks, I felt so heavy about the decision to push thru with the trip, knowingly putting my children at risk, for a reason as frivolous as having a vacation. It was an unnecessary travel we could have easily skipped.
It's been a week since we're back, and I think I can now safely say that we have made it unscathed. Both my husband and son have been ordered to stay away from the office and school, respectively, as a form of quarantine. My son has been receiving lessons and worksheets from school which we work on at home. It helps to at least keep him busy, instead of just whiling away the week.
We are scheduled for another trip in the region in a couple of months. But if the swine flu alert does not ease up until then, we might just have to skip it altogether. How about you? Are you still anxious about swine flu? Or do you feel that the paranoia has abated?