Can You Swine Flu-Proof Your Rowing?

It’s almost impossible to connect to the world right now and not hear, read, or see something about the H1N1 virus (aka Swine Flu). It is everywhere, right? And it is coming to get you, right? So, this must be the time to panic . . . right?

No. No. And Heck No. It is not time to P-A-N-I-C.

• People usually panic when it seems like a good way to show they care, “Oh, you lost your CoxBox? Oh course I love you . . . I will panic with you until it shows up.”
• Or they usually panic when no other option appears, “The boathouse is surrounded by horrible Zombie-Coaches and Talking-Ergometers. There IS no escape. Panic.”
• Or, panic happens when folks just let fear get the best of them, stealing their brains and their common sense.

We are a pretty smart bunch, us rowers. This is the time to be reasonable and prudent—not crazy. Frothing at the mouth and cowering in the corner until those talking-ergs get you does nothing good. It is time to do something positive. Yes, there are schools closing, and people getting sick, and economies being disrupted—but did you know that since January 1, 2009 almost 13,000 people have died, in the US, from flu? Not THIS Flu, but from other flus.

That grim statistic leads me to the answer of the question I started with, “Can you Swine Flu-Proof your rowing?”

Simply put, “Nope, you can’t.” Now you can reduce the chance you are going to get the flu, and you can reduce the chance of you sharing the flu if you’ve got it, but you cannot keep the flu, or any other disease transmitted by contact 100% out of your rowing.

Bummer? Kinda. Can you live/row with it . . .certainly. Especially if you do the positive thing I was talking about . . . start your own TIRP (transmittable illness reduction program). [A lame name, no less, but I could not think of anything better.]

A while back I wrote about the power of bleach, to help make you go fast. That post was all about reducing the transmission of infections. Two interesting things came out of that post.

First, several notes arrived saying it seemed really hard and time consuming to do. So thanks for the post, but the writers would not be doing it.

Second, another writer did not want to get other rowers upset by disinfecting the handles on the ergs.

Hmmm . . . too busy and too worried about what others might say/think. Neither seem to be a good reason not to take a few seconds (less than 15) and a few squirts to kill off a million or so nasty germs. With all H1N1 stuff now going on those squirts and seconds hopefully will seem like a wise investment to those writers (and to you). And I hope they like the idea of  washing hands also. That one step has been shown to dramatically reduce the chance of spreading infections.

So, you cannot Flu-proof, but you can take steps to make a difference. Bleach, hand soap, and not going to the boathouse when you are sick. Simple steps that won’t stop, but can reduce, a growing-illness from becoming a rowing-illness.

Is there something that you are doing to help keep infections to a minimum? If so, let us know, post a comment below.