duncan228
10-16-2009, 05:51 PM
Playing with LeBron: Catch a ball -- and maybe the flu (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2009/10/lebron-james-cavaliers-flu-h1n1-influenza-a-basketball/1)
USA Today
Oh, isn't this noble ... LeBron James and Cavaliers teammates, still quite likely contagious with seasonal flu, have traveled with their team to play pre-season games in Texas this weekend.
How lovely for their teammates, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks -- not to mention everyone else they deal with in transit, that these fellows will step up and play right on through the public health advisories all the rest of us are supposed to heed.
Note that they traveled with the team even before getting back results on whether they had H1N1 although they were already diagnosed with Influenza A. The team says they've been "pro-active" in treating the players and two others are not making the trip.
Even if the guys were loaded up with seasonal flu shots this week, those can take two to three weeks to take effect. If they got access to the H1N1 shots, then there'd be an interesting ethical question: How could athletes jump the line ahead of school kids and pregnant women who are most vulnerable to this strain?
I've been keeping an eye on that H1N1 vaccine priority list because I selfishly toyed with trying to jump in for that shot earlier this month. My excuse: I have a very special trip coming up in November that can't be rescheduled. It looked bad for this ethics writer's conscience for a few minutes there, I must admit. But I'll just take my chances like everyone else until there's enough vaccine for people like me.
And I will hope that folks with the flu will head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is pretty clear (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm):
People infected with seasonal and 2009 H1N1 flu shed virus and may be able to infect others from 1 day before getting sick to 5 to 7 days after.
It's that word "after" that jumps out at me. James returned to practice Thursday after missing two days, according to our story today (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/cavaliers/2009-10-15-lebron-flu_N.htm). So, by my math, he's still a germ machine sitting on the team plane sneezing into recycled air, or touching hotel fixtures where the virus can live for two to eight hours.
I don't think this comes under the same heading as "playing hurt" like you've whacked your ankle or you're coming back from surgery. Even though their "workplace" is a sports arena, this players actions still resonate for the rest of us workaholics who think the world will end if we stay home sick -- or contagious.
Is it ethical to step out in public when you know you're contagious and could make others -- maybe even folks without your baseline good health -- sick or sicker?
USA Today
Oh, isn't this noble ... LeBron James and Cavaliers teammates, still quite likely contagious with seasonal flu, have traveled with their team to play pre-season games in Texas this weekend.
How lovely for their teammates, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Dallas Mavericks -- not to mention everyone else they deal with in transit, that these fellows will step up and play right on through the public health advisories all the rest of us are supposed to heed.
Note that they traveled with the team even before getting back results on whether they had H1N1 although they were already diagnosed with Influenza A. The team says they've been "pro-active" in treating the players and two others are not making the trip.
Even if the guys were loaded up with seasonal flu shots this week, those can take two to three weeks to take effect. If they got access to the H1N1 shots, then there'd be an interesting ethical question: How could athletes jump the line ahead of school kids and pregnant women who are most vulnerable to this strain?
I've been keeping an eye on that H1N1 vaccine priority list because I selfishly toyed with trying to jump in for that shot earlier this month. My excuse: I have a very special trip coming up in November that can't be rescheduled. It looked bad for this ethics writer's conscience for a few minutes there, I must admit. But I'll just take my chances like everyone else until there's enough vaccine for people like me.
And I will hope that folks with the flu will head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is pretty clear (http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm):
People infected with seasonal and 2009 H1N1 flu shed virus and may be able to infect others from 1 day before getting sick to 5 to 7 days after.
It's that word "after" that jumps out at me. James returned to practice Thursday after missing two days, according to our story today (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/cavaliers/2009-10-15-lebron-flu_N.htm). So, by my math, he's still a germ machine sitting on the team plane sneezing into recycled air, or touching hotel fixtures where the virus can live for two to eight hours.
I don't think this comes under the same heading as "playing hurt" like you've whacked your ankle or you're coming back from surgery. Even though their "workplace" is a sports arena, this players actions still resonate for the rest of us workaholics who think the world will end if we stay home sick -- or contagious.
Is it ethical to step out in public when you know you're contagious and could make others -- maybe even folks without your baseline good health -- sick or sicker?