The near-panic over swine flu has turned, inevitably, to its potential to disrupt the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Even Canucks fans are getting queasy.

Let's face it, our perennially punished hockey team has advanced to the second round of the playoffs and may have a real shot at going all the way.

Then wouldn't you know it? Along comes a pandemic.

With Mexican soccer matches and other crowd-attracting events being cancelled, it's not hard for the fatalistic fans among us to imagine a flu pandemic here putting the kibosh on home games at GM Place – or even a Stanley Cup victory parade – because of the threat of virus transmission in large crowds.

(And we're not even gonna imagine the players getting hit with the bug. No, let's not go there.)

Canuckleheads can do more than just praying at their Luongo altars, braiding their playoff beards, or coughing discreetly into their white towels.

Public health officials say we can all take steps to try to minimize the spread of flu here in B.C., starting with the basics of frequent hand washing.

Here's another idea.

TransLink could also help out by installing hand sanitizers in all SkyTrain stations.

Even without a pandemic, taking public transit can be something of a biohazard.

Just ask any regular transit user about the horror of being sneezed upon by a fellow rider.

Transit hand sanitizers could conceivably help keep us healthier all the time and encourage the more germaphobic among us who refuse to ride to get back on board.

And maybe even ride the train to a Canucks game.

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