After two or three weeks of constant coverage, it seems as if the swine flu talk is beginning to die down. I watch the Today Show and CNN religiously.  And while these news channels continue to devote a significant amount of time to this modern day plague….it’s nothing compared to the coverage we saw when the illness initially surfaced.

Because I’m a germ-phobic and a self-proclaimed hypochondriac, I stayed glued to the television. I bought anti-bacterial gel for every purse I own and my car, and I would duck for cover whenever someone coughed or sneezed in my vicinity. I know, it’s a little extreme. But as someone with a weaken immune system (I give thanks to Prednisone), I have to be careful. Besides, my rheumatologist advised me to get a flu shot last winter. But I didn’t feel like getting pricked, so I blew it off - not that it would have helped.

But all this talk about swine flu makes me appreciate work at home life. Not only because I can reduce my chances of catching this illness…but I also reduce my chances of getting sick period. Thinking back to when I used to work in an office setting, I would keep a cold in the winter, and I would get sick with the flu once every other year. But nowadays, I’m rarely sick; and I haven’t had the flu in six years. That’s more than a coincidence.

With talk about swine flu, it appears as if more and more professionals are considering work at home life. I often wonder, if this crisis continues, is telecommuting the way to protect oursevles and avoid the swine flu?

There might be some truth to this statement. Yeah, telecommuting gets lonely at times, and it requires a ton of self-discipline. But on a brighter note, think of everything you’ll avoid. With many employers cutting paid sick leave, some people can’t afford to call-in sick. And if you work in an office setting, this can mean coughing employers, coming in contact with dirty tissues, and contaminated people using your pens and telephone. It’s no wonder illnesses spread like wildfire in a confined space.

Hopefully, things will die down even further, wherein companies won’t have to temporarily shut their doors or worry about an epidemic. But until then, it doesn’t hurt to evalute your situation and see whether telecommuting is a realistic alternative….just in case.