Now, about this little pandemic. Here in Virginia, we have had to deal with a spat of swine flu cases. I happen to work for an ambulance company that transports primarily stable patients to and from various appointments, cancer treatment, physical therapy, dialysis, etc. We do get the occasional emergency call and interfacility transfers that require more specialized care en route, but by and large, we are a taxi service that does heavy lifting. After sustaining a shoulder injury and being put on light duty for a couple of days, we got a call to pick up a patient from a local hospital that was being discharged back to the infirmary at a facility that cares for developmentally disabled/cerebral palsy patients. All we were told by Dispatch (i.e. Control) was that the patient had "flu-like symptoms". We quickly, after this event, deduced that "flu-like symptoms" is code for H1N1 positive. This poor kid had a number of issues he had been seen for. He had a medical history as long as my arm which included but was not limited to acute bronchitis, respiratory MRSA, AND was H1N1 positive. Frankly, I think the swine flu diagnosis was likely the least of his problems. Seeing as how I was on light duty and we had a third crewman, I was left behind with the ambulance when we got him to the infirmary to decontaminate the patient compartment. I can relate to your being told that masks really don't do it. We are similarly using masks, gowns (i.e. aprons), and gloves. Mind you this was a mere two weeks after we transported a "stable" patient to an appointment with his pulmonary specialist, stayed with him for the visit, and were to return him back to the nursing home, but were rerouted per his doctor for a direct admit to the hospital in a positive pressure isolation room for suspected tuberculosis vs. possible lung cancer. Once again, Dispatch had been less than clear about what we were getting ourselves into and we took less than universal precautions on this case. Testing since has shown me to be clear of any possible exposure to TB, or any of the other nasties we've dealt with lately. Whew!