December 1st is the day that, as a family, we jump into holiday celebrations. We make decorations, and countdown chains, break out the holiday books, movies and music.
It’s also important, though, to stop and remember.
Today is World AIDS Day.
When I was in college, I volunteered at the local AIDS Project. I manned the phones, and I gave out a lot of advice (my favorite tidbit was that dental dams made from microwavable plastic wrap are not effective barriers - because of the more porous nature of the microwavable wrap - so you need to find non-microwavable wrap).
As much as I’d like to believe that in this day and age, we’re all aware of the truths behind HIV/AIDS, there may still be people who don’t know that HIV is a fragile virus. It cannot be transmitted through casual touch or even through kissing. (Another favorite fact from my Project days is that you’d need to exchange roughly a gallon of saliva to transmit the virus, which is about the amount of saliva you’d produce in 24 hours. So if you tend to kiss for 24 hours without taking breaks for, say, eating, sleeping or peeing, you might be at risk.) HIV is transmitted in three ways: through unprotected sex, shared needles, or from mother to baby before or during birth. Not by hugging.
We all need more hugging.
Be aware, be smart, be safe.
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