Flu guidelines

January 1, 0001

Summary

Story

• With identified cases of swine flu in other locations in the northern hemisphere (including British Columbia), Public Health has heightened monitoring of influenza-like illness in our community. It comes as no surprise that we have identified some probable cases of the disease in King County and we will likely see more cases in the next few days as heightened monitoring continues.

• We are all familiar with regular, seasonal influenza. While this disease is an influenza, it is a new "variety" so public health and medical officials are still learning about what its impacts might be in terms of how easily its spreads and how sick it may make people.

• We are fortunate to live in one of the best prepared regions of the country. Our health department is one of the best in the nation. I am confident in the ability of our department, county, and community to carry out the plans that we have been working on for several years.

• We know that people can help to keep themselves and our community healthy through some simple and common sense measures. These include washing your hands, covering your cough or sneeze, and staying home when you are sick. If you have children who are not feeling well, they should stay home from school.

• The current situation is a good reminder to us of the preparedness steps we should all have in place. Parents with school-aged children should have plans in place that will allow them to work if their children are at home either because they are not feeling well or in the event a school is closed for a few days. And for any natural, human-caused, or health emergency, we should all have basic supplies of water, food and medications that we regularly take on hand at home.

• Knowledge is power - and the Public Health Web site is a great resource on what is happening in our community and how we can be prepared and respond.