![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkan...some personal observation corrections to a recent NYT article on Japan and swine flu.
Particularly this bit: "The outbreak has come as a particular shock for hygiene-obsessed Japan, where hand-washing is religiously taught in schools, children play in sanitized sandboxes, and everything from underwear to ballpoint pens comes with supposed antibacterial properties...Even before the emergence of swine flu, sick Japanese dutifully donned surgical masks to avoid infecting others."
Handwashing may be religiously taught in schools, but here's something to ponder: Bathrooms in Japan do not supply handsoap.
I'll repeat that again, in bold font: Bathrooms in Japan do not supply handsoap.
So you may believe that when the swine flu carriers passsed through Kankuu on their way back from abroad, they left swine flu germs on every door handle, airport express armrest, and taxi cab interior that they came into contact with. Likewise with the hundreds of guests at the baseball game in Kobe.
I have had arguments with Japanese people about this--and they do not seem capable of making the connection that "briefly dipping your hands under cold tap water for two seconds" does not equal sanitation.
Likewise, many restaurants and cafeterias (including those at all the schools I've visited and the uni cafe where I now work) do not have industrial washing machines. That's right; all the plates, silverware and glasses used by diners are washed by hand, generally by submerging them en masse in a large sink of dingy detergent water, running a grungy sponge over them to remove food particles, and then rinsing them in another sink. Why, one logically asks.
The accepted answer seems to be that industrial washers leave residue and water spots, especially on cups and glasses and thus are not sanitary. Never mind that said washers utilize water temperatures human skin cannot withstand, as well as being generally cleaner than tubs of filthy water.
Also, those surgical masks don't prevent the spread of anything. And from five years of personal observation I can tell you that the people wearing them spend so much time fidgeting with and adjusting them that they actually touch their mouths and noses more than they would were they not wearing them at all. So that's another huge infection vector right there.
That will be all.
Particularly this bit: "The outbreak has come as a particular shock for hygiene-obsessed Japan, where hand-washing is religiously taught in schools, children play in sanitized sandboxes, and everything from underwear to ballpoint pens comes with supposed antibacterial properties...Even before the emergence of swine flu, sick Japanese dutifully donned surgical masks to avoid infecting others."
Handwashing may be religiously taught in schools, but here's something to ponder: Bathrooms in Japan do not supply handsoap.
I'll repeat that again, in bold font: Bathrooms in Japan do not supply handsoap.
So you may believe that when the swine flu carriers passsed through Kankuu on their way back from abroad, they left swine flu germs on every door handle, airport express armrest, and taxi cab interior that they came into contact with. Likewise with the hundreds of guests at the baseball game in Kobe.
I have had arguments with Japanese people about this--and they do not seem capable of making the connection that "briefly dipping your hands under cold tap water for two seconds" does not equal sanitation.
Likewise, many restaurants and cafeterias (including those at all the schools I've visited and the uni cafe where I now work) do not have industrial washing machines. That's right; all the plates, silverware and glasses used by diners are washed by hand, generally by submerging them en masse in a large sink of dingy detergent water, running a grungy sponge over them to remove food particles, and then rinsing them in another sink. Why, one logically asks.
The accepted answer seems to be that industrial washers leave residue and water spots, especially on cups and glasses and thus are not sanitary. Never mind that said washers utilize water temperatures human skin cannot withstand, as well as being generally cleaner than tubs of filthy water.
Also, those surgical masks don't prevent the spread of anything. And from five years of personal observation I can tell you that the people wearing them spend so much time fidgeting with and adjusting them that they actually touch their mouths and noses more than they would were they not wearing them at all. So that's another huge infection vector right there.
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-05-22 10:30 am (UTC)Just today, I had a bit of a cough in English club, and I was asked if I was getting sick. I replied, "Well, all of my coworkers are sick, but they still come to work, so..." Blank stares. I shouldn't have to explain this folks.
Also, gargling with water? What do you even think that DOES?
You should have seen the news today. This one lady was making masks in her house with a sewing machine. Because you know, you should totally sneeze in a mask and then reuse it. Plus, they had a segment on how to make a mask out of paper towels and rubber bands. I think they just feel better by believing the mask does something. @__@
I personally only wear a mask when I'm already sick, and that's because I think sneezing on other people is pretty damn rude.
no subject
on 2009-05-23 12:09 pm (UTC)Wait, they gargle with water? I'd always assumed they meant with saline or hydrogen peroxide. Water ain't gonna do JACK.
I think you're dead on with that observation about the mask being psychological. Also: if putting a piece of cloth over your mouth stopped bacteria we could all just wild west it up with bandanas. No need for home sewn masks. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work like that, which is why surgical masks exist in the first place.
Oh, Japan.
no subject
on 2009-05-22 06:17 pm (UTC)Oh Japan...
no subject
on 2009-05-25 03:40 am (UTC)LOL @ Japan.
no subject
on 2009-05-26 03:42 am (UTC)LOL @ Japan, indeed.
no subject
on 2009-05-26 09:23 pm (UTC)EEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!
:-P
no subject
on 2009-05-27 04:02 am (UTC)To say nothing of the fact that they're leaving germs on the door handle I have to touch to get out of the bathroom.
no subject
on 2009-05-28 07:15 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-28 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-28 07:24 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-01 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-01 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-09 10:57 pm (UTC)Not that it matters. I'll eat anywhere.
no subject
on 2009-06-01 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-26 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-27 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-05-28 07:16 pm (UTC)