By CHRIS HARRIS, Staff Writer
Somerset — Here’s a handy tip to remember: Soap beats “swine.”
With schools opening their doors to students once again this time of year — Science Hill and the Pulaski School System started this past week; Somerset Schools and Somerset Christian go back in the coming days — the threat of the H1N1 virus, or “swine flu,” is becoming more pressing than usual.
According to the Lake Cumberland District Health Department (LCDHD), there are cases of influenza circulating in the area. Even though there have been no reported swine flu cases in Pulaski county, there have been some in surrounding counties, with McCreary County the closest — a handful of inmates at the United States Penitentiary there in recent weeks.
As usual, the best advice is common sense: Wash your hands, cover your face if you cough or sneeze, and stay home if you’re sick.
“People in the Lake Cumberland area should try to protect themselves from the H1N1 flu virus just as they would from colds and seasonal flu viruses,” said Shawn Crabtree, Executive Director of Lake Cumberland District Health Department. “They should practice good hygiene, such as covering their cough or sneeze and washing their hands often.”
Common symptoms of the flu are sudden fever, usually over 100 degrees in temperature, coughing, muscle ache, fatigue, and generally feeling bad. Some cases report diarrhea and vomiting.
“There’s no way to tell for sure if it’s H1N1 unless you go to get tested,” said Amy Tomlinson of the LCDHD. However, seeing a doctor and getting him or her to prescribe Tamiflu within the first 48 hours may help relieve one’s condition.
Though the flu is going around, Tomlinson said that right now it appears to be “the typical flu” — that is, not the H1N1 virus. However, the possibility that the headline-making illness — of which there have been nearly 170 confirmed cases in Kentucky, though with no deaths — could make its presence known looms large.
Schools are breeding grounds for nasty bugs. With so many people in such close quarters — most of them children who are still learning about how to keep healthy — it’s imperative to do everything possible to keep students and faculty going strong now that the halls of academia are brimming with activity once again.
To that end, the Pulaski County School system has taken proactive measures toward staying in good health. Superintendent Tim Eaton said that swine flu was addressed in the first principals’ meetings held before the start of this school year. Eaton and Asst. Superintendent Sonya Wilds shared information garnered from government officials via a Webcast to Washington D.C. with the district’s principals, who then went and tried to share advice and protocol with their respective faculties.
“We’ve tried to prepare staff on the prevention side of things — just simple things, guidance for schools,” said Eaton. “Getting (common sense health ideas) across to children is imperative.”
Eaton noted that because schools are vulnerable to flu outbreaks, early recognition of symptoms of the flu in students and staff is crucial, as is making sure those individuals stay home.
However, “getting that done in 16 different facilities is (not easy),” he added. “You just can’t avoid germs — you’ve got kids sneezing on the school bus. You’ve got people at ballgames. It’s a really big undertaking. Hopefully, some of the basics can be addressed.”
The schools’ nurses and staff have been in contact with the LCDHD and Pulaski Schools Health Coordinator Sarah Roberts has led an effort to get this vital info to those on the front lines who need it. Plans are in place to put together an information package for parents offering advice and instructions on how to help keep the problem to a minimum.
“We don’t want to breed panic, but we want people to be aware and educated,” said Roberts. “It starts in the home. This is just an FYI for parents, along with Web sites that they can look at when they need more information, because I don’t think this thing is going away.”
The keys to prevention are simple — deceivingly so, because so many people have a hard time following through with them. Roberts and Tomlinson both advised:
• Staying home when you aren’t feeling well.
“Instead of just giving their child a Motrin and sending them on their way, parents need to keep children home if they’re sick,” said Roberts. And that goes for adults too — no matter where you work.
• Coughing into your sleeve instead of on your hands.
• Wash, wash, wash. Roberts said the schools system has emphasized regular washing of one’s hands for some time now in the wake of other public health scares, and hand sanitizers are readily available in most school areas.
“For the last few years, we’ve been vigilant about keeping all areas of the school clean,” said Roberts, “especially high-contact areas where many kids touch the same things, like computers labs or the gym. We’ve been focused on this for a long time.”
Nevertheless, the big (and often neglected) secret to avoiding the flu — “swine” or otherwise — is good old-fashioned soap and water. “It all boils down to keeping your hands clean,” said Roberts. “If you do these very simple things, it will help a lot.”
Roberts said the schools have an emergency preparedness plan in place in case of a pandemic situation, with adherence to Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. “We’ve just been encouraging teachers to make sure (students practice this) daily.”
If they and others don’t? Tomlinson said the worst-case scenario is that a large percent of the local population can’t work or go to school, which has an impact on the local economy. Worse still is the possibility of flu-related deaths — but that doesn’t mean parents or anyone else have any reason for special concern: Just maintain a healthy respect for keeping clean.
“Good hygiene is a big part of it,” said Roberts, “and we can all do that.”
For more information about H1N1 flu, visit:
http://www.lcdhd.org
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu
