Working at CDC in the midst of an outbreak is an interesting experience - in some ways, reassuring, and in other ways completely baffling. The speed and magnitude of the response to the outbreak is impressive, especially given my experiences in the research world (repeated failure punctuated by brief, beautiful successes...as one coworker said, "It's called REsearch because you have to do it again and again and again").
On the other hand, the inboxes of CDC employees have been inundated with 1-2 email a day reminding us that influenza produces flu-like symptoms, and people suspecting that they have been infected should stay home. On a more local level, the person at the branch assigned to do testing on samples in Puerto Rico has a permanently runny nose - in the 8 months I've been here, I don't think he's stopped sniffling.
But as usual, Puerto Rico seems immune to the drama of the outside world. No fanatical antibacterial hand-soaping here - the most I've heard that's happened as a result of the outbreak was that my neighbr called in "sick" on Monday to go surfing. Go figure.
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