Opinion, Berkeley Blogs

Russia is taking this seriously, so should we!

By Joanne Ikeda

My husband and I just returned from a trip to Russia.  When our plane arrived in Moscow,  we had to wait for a public health official to give her approval before we were allowed to deboard the plane.  She came aboard and used an instrument that took one's temperatures when it was aimed at one's forehead.  She checked out every passenger.   We were told that this was to prevent anyone who had the flu from entering the country.  Unfortunately, an 8 year old girl was running a fever.  I'm not quite sure what the Russians decided to do about her as the rest of us were let off the plane.   I know that an elementary school student in the Bay area has just died from H1N1.  How sad.  No one expects their child to die of the flu.  My heart goes out to her parents.