Typhoid Mary lives again! Last week, a pastry chef at a local restaurant was found to have hepatitis A. As a result, the health department issued an alert that anyone who had recently eaten dessert there could receive a free hepatitis vaccine.
How many people did this one person potentially infect? 450 people, according to the restaurant's owner.
In this case, the pastry worker did the right thing and voluntarily reported her diagnosis, presumably to her employer, who then also did the right thing and notified the health department. However, how many employees, fearing being fired or losing time off from work, would not report their illness? How many might admit that they're sick, but say that they "just have the flu" and then work each and every day until they physically can't drag themselves into work anymore? And how many owners, knowing that any notification to the health department could greatly harm their business, would still do so?
Last year, we were treated to a whole host of restaurant chains proclaiming their vehement opposition to Obamacare. Again and again, they stated how they would have to cut workers' hours in order to keep as many people off it as possible. Papa Johns, Olive Garden, Applebee, Taco Bell, Dennys, Red Lobster and others were loud, proud and very vocal in their "principled" stand against health care for their workers.
How'd that work out again?
Prior to their statements, most people probably didn't realize that the people who prepare their food -- the same food that goes into their mouth and the mouths of their loved ones -- don't have health care. The thought of someone who's actively sick -- hacking or coughing up phlegm from a cold, or working with a high fever from the flu -- while they're chopping food, mixing food, picking up or putting their hands on food -- is not a pleasant thought. To say that this is pretty disgusting is putting it mildly.
But what these restaurants fail to realize is how important it is that food preparers have health care. They've apparently forgotten all about Typhoid Mary, the cook who infected 51 people, three of whom died. All it took was one woman with access to their food and BAM -- goodbye, good night and sayonara to the unfortunate three. Had they known, I'm sure that every one of her victims would have wished that they'd paid a lot more attention to who's making the soup.
UPDATE: More information on Typhoid Mary from her Wiki page:
Exactly how many people were infected or killed by her is not known.[3] She refused to cooperate with health authorities, withheld information about her past, and used different pseudonyms when she changed cities.[3] Three deaths have been definitively attributed to her, with estimates running as high as 50.[