In the first two weeks of classes at Washington State University, about 10% of students came down with swine flu. For most people, swine flu means three to five days of discomfort. But for some groups of people, it can be very serious and lead to a stay in the hospital or even death.
Who are these high-risk patients? Even if you’re not in a high risk group, how can you prepare in case the pandemic gets as bad as some think it will be – affecting up to half the population and putting millions into hospitals?
This is the second of a series of four articles on swine flu. Other articles in this series include:
- Into the Belly of the Beast: My Family’s Experience with Swine Flu
- What to Do If You Get Swine Flu
- What to Do If Your Family Gets Swine Flu
Who is at Highest Risk?
If you or a family member are in any of the following groups, you should take extra steps to avoid getting sick. These are the people expected to be hit hardest – and have the greatest risk of complications, be the most like to end up in the hospital and have the greatest chance of dying of swine flu. As far as I’ve been able to discover, everyone who has died of swine flu in the United States has been in one of these groups. These people should be extra vigilant and take precautions to avoid getting swine flu.
- Pregnant women.
- People who are severely obese.
- Those with chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except hypertension), renal, hepatic, hematological (including sickle cell disease), neurologic, neuromuscular, or metabolic disorders (including diabetes).
- Anyone with a compromised immune system, whether caused by medication, HIV or otherwise.
- Those under 19 years old on a long-term aspirin therapy.
- People living in nursing homes and other chronic-care facilities.
The CDC has a special page with other suggestions for people in these groups.
How to Protect Yourself
As you’ll have read in the earlier article about swine flu in my family, even a ‘mild’ case of swine flu can hit hard. Taking extra precautions this fall to avoid becoming sick with swine flu is absolutely worth the inconvenience.
- Stay away from those who have confirmed or suspected swine flu. The CDC suggests staying at least six feet away. You probably don’t have to worry about walking near someone who is sick or just sitting near them in a doctor’s waiting room. For the next month or so you can be almost 100% certain that someone with flu-like symptoms has swine flu and not ‘regular’ flu.
- If you must be around someone with swine flu, wear a face mask – especially if you’re in one of those high-risk groups. Here are CDC recommendations regarding face masks. Remember that people can be contagious 24 hours before they “feel” sick (that is, before they have any symptoms) and up to 7 days after symptoms first appear.
- Wash your hands often with soap and warm water. Wash at least 20 seconds – about how long it takes to sign the “Happy Birthday” song. Or use an alcohol-based cleaner. When someone with swine flu coughs or sneezes, the virus can land on a surface and stay alive for up to 24 hours. It stays alive longest on hard surfaces like a counter, telephone, desktop or door knob. The virus gets into your body when you touch that surface and then touch your mouth, eyes or nose.
Read the Pandemic Flu Planning Checklist for Individuals and Families for other ideas. It’s also available as a PDF. Other checklists are available for businesses and for other situations.
How to Prepare for a Worst Case Scenario
The media seems intent on making swine flu scary. You’ve undoubtedly seen articles comparing it to the 1918 flu epidemic. Chances are it will not be that bad. Here are some of the things you may want to think about – just in case.
- Social disruption may be widespread. Banks, stores, restaurants, government offices and post offices may not be open.
- It may be hard to get to work or your work may be closed. Prepare for a loss of income if your employer must close.
- Schools could be closed. If you have school-age children, have books and other learning materials ready. Plan recreational activities your children can do at home. Consider childcare needs.
- Public transportation may be affected. How will you get to work? To shopping? To the other places you need to go?
- Have enough food and other essential supplies in your home so you’ll need to make fewer trips to the store. Plan to have enough to take care of your family for at least a couple weeks. Make sure you have enough prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter medicines (including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins).
- Talk with family members and loved ones. Who will care for them if they get sick? If needed, will you be able to care for them in your home? How will they get to you? Or how will you get to them?
The government’s flu.gov website has a host of other materials on individual and family preparation.
Final Thoughts
We fear the unknown and what we are not prepared for. Being prepared can help minimize fear. In the next article we’ll talk about what to do if, despite your precautions, you come down with the swine flu. In the final article of this series, we’ll share ideas and guidelines for taking care of family members (or friends and neighbors) who get sick.
Related articles from WalterBristow.com:
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Thanks, Walt. These articles on swine flu have really helped my family. How bad do you think the spread of the flu will be?
You can see a graph of Percentage of Visits for Influenza-like Illness (ILI) Reported by the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) at http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/updates/us/#iligraph. The line for the last couple weeks is almost straight up. A map of Weekly Influenza Activity Estimates Reported by State and Territorial Epidemiologists is just above it on the same page. You’ll see it is widespread in the entire southeast. Check back next week and see how many states are listed in the widespread category.