Cover your damned mouth!

I had just arrived at my favorite convenience store to refresh myself with an ice cold Dr. Pepper.  It was a muggy, dirty day and my car's AC hasn't been purring like a kitten the past few....well, all summer actually.  So, long story short, I was t-h-i-r-s-t-y.

I strode through the door, a man on a mission, beelining for the fountain drinks.  Five seconds of fast walking got me halfway to the fountain of refreshment when in a split second, my entire situation changed.  Ten feet away, stepping back from the fountain, was a young man.  A laborer, by the look of his clothes and sun-darkened skin.  He was 10 feet from me.  He wore a dirty shirt and tattered jeans.  He held a brimming soda cup in each of his dirty hands, condensation beading up on shiny white plastic cups like frost painting a winter's window pane.  What a luck man!

In the split second between stepping back and turning, he began to raise his left hand, as though to draw icy refreshment through the protruding shiny red straw.  Beads of condensation began to run down the sides of the cup.  Refreshment was imminent and I couldn't wait to get mine.

In the next split second he lurched his head spasmodically forward, thrusting his jaw and head away from his shoulders as though his collar bones were on fire, needing to get as far from them as possible.  And in an instant, he exploded.  Not from the imagined fire in his shoulders.  His mouth exploded, with a gigantic spray as he sneezed - uncovered and unashamed - into the closing gap between me and the fountain of refreshment.

A droplet of condensation splattered on the store's dirty floor.  Time froze.  Aerosolized sputum rained to the ground and I was certain that before freezing in my tracks, I felt their mist settle on my forearms.

My reaction was fast and furious.  "Cover you damned mouth," I sternly fired at him.  He shuffled past me without a second glance, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened.  After returning to the fountain from washing my hands, I wondered how many others were behaving so carelessly?

Simple things will give everyday people a chance to break a pandemic.  H1N1 is a looming healthcare phenomenon right before our eyes, heralding back to days that we never dreamed could impact hemispheres of the earth again.

Simple things will make the difference.  Washing our hands.  Washing them often.  Washing them right....often.  Covering our mouths the right way is another simple thing.  Health experts suggest coughing or sneezing into the crook of the elbow is a great way to minimize the spread of droplet-borne diseases.  Hands stay clean, and the droplets are absorbed into the sleeve's fabric.  This site shows you how.

If you can't remember these simple things, just remember to cover your damned mouth!