Planning Ahead for H1N1...

Now that the kids are back in school many people are worried that the

H1N1 swine flu will spread even further than it already has. The virus has already defied public-health officials' predictions of a lull in the warm summer months. More than two million people are believed to have contracted the new flu in the U.S. and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of August 13th, 7,511 people have been hospitalized and 477 have died.

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Flu Season Trivia: Test Your H1N1 IQ...

1. TRUE OR FALSE: Hand washing does not work if there is no hot running water.

The answer is FALSE: The CDC recommends that you wash your hands thoroughly with clean, running water and soap. Use warm water if it’s available.  If clean, running water is not available use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

2.TRUE OR FALSE:  People over 64 who have chronic ailments not eligible for the H1N1 flu vaccine.

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Preparing For the Swine Influenza

We are all concerned about the spread of the swine influenze and nervously await its arrival in Georgia. Below is an excerpt of Dr. Richard Besser's, Acting Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, remarks from the press briefing held April 26 on what we can do to prepare ourselves. 

"It's important that people understand that there's a role for everyone to play when there's an outbreak going on. There are things that individuals do, there's things that families do, communities do to try and reduce the impact. At the individual level, it's important people understand how they can prevent respiratory infections. Very frequent hand-washing is something that we talk about time and time again and that is an effective way to reduce transmission of disease. If you're sick, it's very important that people stay at home. If your children are sick, have a fever and flu-like illness, they shouldn't go to school. And if you're ill, you shouldn't get on an airplane or another public transport to travel. Those things are part of personal responsibility in trying to reduce the impact.

So it's time for people to be thinking — forward-thinking about, well, if it were my child's school, what would I do, how would I be prepared for that kind of an event. We view the public as partners in the efforts to try and control what's going on.

There are a number of sources of information. I want people to know that the CDC web site — www.cdc.gov — has our latest information on swine flu. There's a link from there to very current information and there's a link there to a Spanish language site as well."

Read the entire transcript of the press briefing

Icela Reets - Emergency Response Program Coordinator