I am fine today.
Due to the outbreak of A(H1N1), my brothers and sisters, especially those who lived in Sarawak, were very worried when they knew that I am going to the church camp. The worry is understandable because I am belonged to the high risk group due to lung problem.
They are very concerned about me and all of them urged my eldest sister, Sie Huong, to talk to me last night about their concern. They strongly advised me not to go to the camp.
So to go or not go becomes a flip-flop in my mind again. My wife and children were waiting for my decision as they needed to prepare for the camp. This is a tough decision to make.
I started to calculate the risk. About 120 adults and children, including 25 from Hong Kong, will be attending the camp. Does the camp pose a higher risk than normal events in my life?
The crowd is big – higher risk
I am exposed to more than 120 people in every church service. So the risk is equal in this sense.
25 of them are from Hong Kong – higher risk
Yesterday there were 279 new cases in Malaysia and 379 new cases in Hong Kong. Yes, higher risk but shouldn’t be too high as the number from Hong Kong is small.
Even though I am very careful, the children might transmit the disease to me – higher risk
In fact the risk for children to get infected in the camp is less than that of school. In the school, Joseph and Daniel are exposed to about 50 students each – that is the class size, so just the two children are exposed to 100 persons. My wife is teaching at least 3 classes, so the exposure is about 150 persons. So the total exposure added up to 250 persons. Therefore, the school poses highest risk than the camp :-)
Taking everything in consideration, the risk of the camp is not much different than normal events in my life. So I decided to go and I am very confident that I will be fine :-)
Dr. Gan advised me not to go and definitely she has her points. However, another Dr. advised me to go but take care of myself; wearing mask and keep my hands clean. He said, “Go, whatever situation it is, life has to go on.” :-)
See you next post :-)
3 comments:
If you felt want go than just go lo...
Ya, it's high risk!
hahahaha
Hard to make decision rite??
Just pray and believe that's a unbelievable strength will blessed from lord to you!!!
hehe
Hi David,
Ee Ding and I broke out laughing at your posting. "Just go lah" sounds very Malaysian!
About the H1N1 ... we find that the average Malaysian is overly concerned with such threats. Perhaps the Malaysian public trusts the newspapers and the mass media way too much. H1N1 is also mentioned in the USA but people here tend not to care about such things ...
I found out that on average more than 150 people die in auto accidents every day in the USA only. It is unclear if H1N1 is any deadlier than ordinary flu.
Regards,
Dobrin
Hi Dobrin,
Yes, very Malaysian :-)
I agree with you that the threat is overly empathized here.
My brother, Richard, also pointed out that the dead rate due to auto accidents here is a lot higher than H1N1.
Regards,
David
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