Wellingtonians 'grossed out' swine flu team

Even at the height of the swine flu pandemic, 95 per cent of Wellingtonians ignored basic hygiene messages promoted in a major public health campaign.

University of Otago Wellington researchers observed thousands of people at Wellington railway station, a central city foodcourt and Wellington Hospital at the peak of last year's pandemic.

Just one in 20 covered their coughs and sneezes using recommended measures – such as a tissue or the crook of their elbow – during the health scare.

A quarter of all observed did not cover their faces at all, while the rest coughed into their hands – spreading germs as soon as they touched anything.

"We were actually rather surprised that there was still quite a lot of non-covering," lead researcher Nick Wilson said.

"Some people were just coughing and sneezing straight out – that was a bit of a concern."

Researchers were especially "grossed out" by people in cafeterias coughing over food, and people caring for a child coughing over the child's face.

They were perturbed to see several people also spitting inside Wellington Hospital, Dr Wilson said.

The highest proportion of uncovered sneezes was recorded in the main entranceway, where one in two people did not cover their faces. The "surprising" findings showed a national swine flu awareness campaign – which cost the Health Ministry $1.75 million – failed to catch on.

"It does suggest that more needed to be done. There's never been a big education campaign about hygiene, because people think that's so basic."

- © Fairfax NZ News