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The Margate Swine Flu Handbook
• Stay out of harms way or quarantine may result
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Friday,
May 1, 2009
Based on reports from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Red Cross and Homeland Security, there are measures we can take to avoid contracting swine flu. In fact, if we all just follow some simple steps and remain calm, cool and logical, swine flu will pass us by. You may also find peace of mind knowing that every hospital in Florida, including Margate’s Northwest Medical Center, has a tactical plan in place in case swine flu goes pandemic.
Firstly, keep yourself informed by clicking on the CDC Swine Flu Center. Here, you’ll find real time information on the number of persons infected by state, deaths claimed by the flu and what you can do to stay healthy. This site also explains the various phases of pandemic alert (as per the World Health Organization). Currently, we’re in phase 5, which means large clusters of infected persons have been realized but human-to-human spread remains localized. This suggests that the virus is adapting to humans but is still not readily transmissible.
If what healthcare officials say is true, and the spread of swine flu is imminent, then we’ll probably all be spending some time at home. Now is a good time to make sure you’ve got about two to three weeks worth of food and miscellaneous supplies in the house. Although washing your hands and covering your mouth when coughing or sneezing is a deterrent to spreading swine out in public, there’s little you can do once you’ve come in contact with an infected person -- unless you wash quickly and thoroughly.
If and when this influenza fully adapts to humans, it’s going to spread like wildfire. Although it’ll certainly dampen an already wet economy, staying out of crowded stores, malls, events and other busy public places is your best bet not to get sick.
If and when Broward County samples come back from the lab testing positive for swine flu, it likely means that the flu has already begun to infect our county.
As with most influenza virus, humans can carry it for days without showing signs. At this point, you may want to consider keeping your kids from school and start making arrangements to either stay home from work or work from home. For those who say they can’t afford not to work, the flipside may be swine flu, which will keep you from work anyway and may result in quarantine for you and your family.
Historically in the U.S., pandemic influenza has occurred every 11 to 39 years. While regular human flu accounts for about 36,000 deaths a year in the U.S., the Spanish Flu killed more than a half a million Americans in 1918. Seventy-thousand died from Asian Flu in 1957 and 34,000 more from Hong Kong Flu in 1968.
“Based on historical information,” reads Florida’s influenza pandemic plan, “experts advise that another influenza pandemic may occur within the next few years.”
The plan states three main objectives:
1. To prevent those who are ill from infecting others.
2. To prevent those infected or exposed from becoming ill.
3. To prevent those not infected from becoming infected.
The plan mandates quarantine for infected persons and / or for those suspected of being infected or being a carrier. ‘Modern Quarantine,’ as referred to in the plan, encompasses a range of disease-containment strategies that health officials might consider should swine flu enter the pandemic phase (phase 6). These include:
Short-term, voluntary home curfew
Restrictions on assembly of groups of people (e.g. school events)
Cancellation of public events
Suspension of public gatherings and closings of public places (e.g. theatres and large venues)
Restrictions on travel (air, rail, water, motor vehicle, pedestrian)
Closure of mass transit systems
The Plan states that persons who cannot or will not comply with voluntary home quarantine may be subject to:
Official, legally binding quarantine orders
Posting a guard outside the home
Using electronic forms of monitoring
Quarantine in a guarded facility
In response to the Avian Flu virus that killed 79 Americans in 2006, all U.S. states received funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for use in mandating pandemic planning at the local level, resulting in Florida’s emergency operations plan for flu pandemic, a plan to stop flu from spreading by use of quarantine if need be. The plan explains step-by-step how the Department of Health will prepare for, respond to, recover from and mitigate the impact of an influenza pandemic.
Take precautions now to ensure the health and safety of you and your family while swine flu is in our midst. Don’t wait for the school board or your employer to make that decision for you – and definitely not the government. If staying safe means staying home, then so be it. It’s the twenty-first century and we have the smarts, resources and wherewithal to beat this thing.
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Copyright Cassius Group 2009
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