The mail order disease isn't limited to chicken pox.
Where I work, I am the person who sorts the mail now because everyone else was afraid to touch it back in 2001, when the anthrax scare was going on. As the new person, the task fell to me, and I've been doing the mail in addition to all my other duties ever since.
That we now have yet another disease scare in the mail doesn't surprise me.
I've had skin rashes and infections from handling the mail. One was so severe that I was almost hospitalized over it. That was the one where I learned I am allergic to benadryl, claritin, seldane, zyrtec, and tavist. Now I use barrier gloves and hand washing and germ-x when I sort the mail, and so far, that's worked.
I'm hoping it works for the diseases now being incorrectly shipped and contaminating other mail, because you know these people who are shipping chicken pox via lollipops, cotton swabs, and so on are a) not properly containing the contaminated items, and c) are probably including a variety of other diseases on the contaminated items, diseases that are transmitted via contact, unlike chicken pox, which is an airborn inhalant disease.
Strep, for instance. Or hepatitis or encephalitis. Or the flu. The parents buying the chicken pox lollies won't get chicken pox for their kids. They might get something much worse. So, too, might all the people whose mail came into contact with the improperly contained and shipped diseases.
This doesn't even address the issues of how illegal it is to ship contagious diseases via the mail. Or how much of a rip-off it is for people to charge $50 or more for diseases they know won't be effective because of the disease's preferred transmittal method. Vaccinations cost less than that and the risks to the child are actually less with a vaccination than it is with mail-order diseases.
I am angry that these people don't give a thought to all the other people they may be harming by selling "chicken pox lollies". As poorly packed as these mail order diseases are, the germs and viruses can easily contaminate any envelopes and packages they touch, transmitting the contact diseases they may also be contaminated with to people who might not be able to deal with those diseases - the elderly, the already ill, the pregnant women, the parents of newborns too young for vaccinations, and random mail handlers.
Vaccinations are life-saving. Yes, there are a few children who can't take the vaccinations (my youngest daughter is such a one). And contracting the childhood diseases while young is a good idea when done with medical supervision (which is how we inoculated my youngest daughter since she reacted so badly to vaccinations). But it is not a good idea to send contagious diseases through the mail wrapped in a simple baggie and paper envelope!
The people who spread diseases by mail order are evil and vile and despicable. What's worse, in my opinion, is that some of these diseases (not chicken pox, but all the other diseases that might be accidentally included on the contaminated lollies and cotton swabs) are also zoonotic, which means they can be passed along to animals like pets and service animals.
I take extreme precautions sorting the mail, especially since I had those skin infections from a mail source, so I don't pass anything along to Itzl.