I am a firm believer in good hand hygiene, not just antibacterial gel (although that is good too) but old fashioned hand washing with hot water scrubbing your hands while you sing "happy birthday" in your head and then drying off with a fresh paper towel and using that towel to open the bathroom door as you leave. I do this before I sit down to eat in a restaurant. If more people did this I would think that I would meet them in the bathroom but unfortunately I don't.
DO NOT EAT AT THE ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET!! My family finds it amusing that I balk each time they mention going to the local buffet. I gown up to enter the room of a patient that has MRSA but next week that same person may be dishing out their greens from the food bar right in front of me.
AVOID HANDLING CASH! Some women chose to carry it in their bra. It's used as tips at strip clubs, you don't know who's G-string that money came out of. Just think of all the cash only business and unfortunately money laundering does not mean germ free.
Do not go to the ED unless you are bleeding profusely, having crushing chest pain and/or guaranteed that you will be taken back to a bay immediately. I once had a pt's family member request a change in seating because the person next to them had a cough his statement went something like..."that person is sick, I don't want to catch it"...then go home what do you expect to find at the freaking hospital, the ED no less.
Keep your head out of your ass, use common sense, and keep it all in perspective. Remember most people will recover without complications, many will not even require hospitalization. In a couple of weeks there will be something else to capture the headlines and cause a new media frenzy that will send an already hyperventilating public into another panic.
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