Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

The CDC has announced that this year's flu season is already at epidemic proportions in the US.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-y ... -cdc-says/

The strain that's dominating, H3N2, is a pretty severe strain. This same strain was dominant in the 2012-2013 season, and I remember how bad it got in Boston - I got it myself late in January 2013, and it was bad enough that the local government issued orders to employers to stop penalizing any employees calling in sick to try to combat the spread of the virus. It's also a mismatch with the flu shot that was available this year, as the strain had some genetic drift that occurred too late for the shot to account for it. So the shot isn't quite as effective as hoped, but it still protects at least some and protects against other flu viruses that are circulating.

Wash your hands regularly, folks.

Yes, wash your hands.
Its so gross how this easy preventative measure is ignored.

It really is. Though what I find even worse in this sort of thing is that a lot of employees, especially in service jobs like retail and waitressing where there is direct customer contact, lack basic job protection when sick. They're thus forced to choose between calling in sick and risking punishment, possibly even losing their jobs, and going in sick, which means they likely won't perform well anyway and spread disease while they're at it. Giving people more sick time security would probably help slow down the spread of disease this time of year.

Its bad in the healthcare system too.
There are several sick doctors, nurses, technicians, etc, who are sick, come to work, and share their sickness with patients and colleagues alike.