Jeff Ballweg

It made headlines around the world when it was announced that our little island managed to catch Swine Flu in the first few weeks after it broke out in Mexico. I actually was in the States when it broke out there, and somehow it managed to make it’s way across the Pacific in just a few weeks. Apparently some students from Rangitoto College gave it a lift to Auckland by way of Los Angeles on the way home from a trip in Mexico.
I flew back to New Zealand shortly after the big outbreak and got to fill out a few extra forms on the flight in so that the Ministry of Health might track me down if anyone on the flight ends up with the flu. Not only did they ask where I would be staying and what seat I was in, but if I switched seats in flight.
Upon arrival in Auckland there were posters on the walls every few meters, and a chicane of volunteers with pamphlets of information on flu symptoms. I even spotted a few people with masks on, apparently to keep themselves from licking any doorknobs since you can’t really catch it from just breathing normally.
About a week after I got back to NZ, Julie and I caught a deal on some weekend tickets to Sydney directly out of Christchurch, which gave us an opportunity to see other countries were overreacting to the flu. This flight I didn’t see any masks – either Kiwis are a bit smarter, or they consider getting the flu another adventure. Arrival in Sydney was interesting. Again we had the posters and the leaflets, but the Aussies even directed you through maze of retractable people fencing that corralled us into view of a pair of Flir thermal imaging cameras, apparently to see if any of us had a fever.

Since that first week we haven’t heard much from the flu, at least not out of the international news. At one point I read that much of the world was waiting to see how the pandemic would hit the Southern Hemisphere, as most of the world’s population is getting a temporary reprieve from the flu, as immune systems seem to perform better during summertime.

New Zealanders are certainly feeling the impact. If not from the flu itself, then from the constant reminders about how not to get it. This might be most evident when I stop into the University of Canterbury to visit Julie. Literally every bulletin board has a poster about the flu, hand washing, or general hygiene. During finals week, before you walked into one of the exam rooms, there was a meter-and-a-half high billboard with a stop sign on it that told you in no uncertain terms about the procedure for skipping an exam if you (claim to) have the flu. They even have a website with updates and anything you’d ever want to know about swine flu, what to do about classes and no less than four different posters for you to download and print for display in your home, office, classroom or business.

Swine Flu Poster

Swine Flu Bulletin

Swine Flu with Coffee

Swine Flu wireless website

Swine Flu is not allowed in the library.

Swine Flu mega-sign.

Swine Flu at the bus station

Local television rolls public service advertisements throughout the evening which show you how to wash your hands. The library has a sign on every door, and again in each of the restrooms. Coffee shops have little signs posted near the register, and on some walls in the bus station there might be three identical posters within arms reach. Really there is nowhere you can go in Christchurch these days without being reminded of the eminent danger posed by the flu.

Regardless of all the posters, warnings and general chatter about it, I don’t actually know of anyone who has actually contracted the flu. There are some rumors on campus, but so far nobody that either Julie or I know has actually gotten the flu themselves. It know it seems crazy, but there’s a small part of me (the competitive part) that kinda wants to be the first one in the neighborhood to get it.

The latest report is that there have been 183 cases of H1N1 Influenza in Canterbury.