Opening day for the flu assessment centre at the Halifax Forum drew in people exhibiting varying degrees of flu-like symptoms.
“Body aches, fever, throwing up. Feeling like I’m going to die, basically,” Marty Hurd said before making his way into the clinic. “It’s probably the worst flu I’ve had in quite a while.”
Hurd said he usually gets flu once a year, but like many, wants to make sure he isn’t suffering from H1N1. He was not pleased when informed the assessment centre is not telling people whether or not they have the virus.
“Is that right,” Hurd replied when told the news by reporters. “I didn’t know that. I’m not sure what the point of it is, then. I guess I’ll just go home; I’m not dying or nothing.”
Another woman, who asked not to be identified, said she was told to go home and rest. “They asked me all my symptoms,” she said. “(They told me) to go bed, take Tylenol, and keep warm.”
The woman said through a protective mask her symptoms were similar to those common to H1N1, adding she was “very concerned.”
But not all those visiting the assessment centre were sick. Another woman said she was there to “find out a little more details, that’s all.”
“Actually, about the 17th of October, I had some kind of flu,” she said. “It lasted, um, about three days – I felt kind of miserable. I don’t know if that was the nasty flu or some other flu.”
