Keeping people healthy

Our Opinion

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

The H1N1 flu virus has arrived in Charles County. Health officials are going on the assumption that when people do have the flu it is H1N1 only because they don't usually see seasonal flu in this area until later in the winter. Public school officials also believe that a lot of what schools are seeing is H1N1, also known as swine flu.

What we know unofficially is that the virus has almost certainly been here for weeks. Absenteeism has spiked in classrooms throughout Charles. School officials announced this week that they will not be sending letters home concerning confirmed cases of H1N1, but letters have been sent to parents regarding schools that have seen high numbers of absentees and reminders to keep children home who have flu-like symptoms.

We're in the middle of an outbreak that for the great majority of people blessedly results in a relatively mild illness. But there are exceptions. In Maryland 10 people have died of the swine flu to date, and the Centers for Disease Control pointed out this week that more than half the hospitalizations and almost one-quarter of the deaths nationwide since Sept. 1 have been reported in people 24 and younger.

As the virus creeps through the county it is undoubtedly picking up speed in the schools, and the good news is that a vaccine to stop its spread started to be administered this week. On Tuesday, doctors, nurses and other health care providers lined up at the health department to be the first locally to receive the H1N1 vaccinations. There have been no reported ill effects from the H1N1 vaccine in Charles County.

But we don't really know if we're at the beginning, middle or end of the swine flu's run through Charles County, because now that the virus is confirmed just about everywhere in the country, there is no widespread testing and reporting.

Meanwhile, the health department is helping to administer the H1N1 vaccine and the seasonal flu vaccine. Seasonal flu shot clinics were scheduled to start today.

We're in an odd and confusing period right now, with one flu bug already making the rounds, the seasonal flu expected this winter and reports of spotty availability of the vaccines to protect against both strains. That's unavoidable, but what would help is real, up-to-date information about exactly where we are in this community, or where we think we are, in the battle against the flu. Here's where the county's health officer can be helpful. If the H1N1 virus has been in the schools for weeks, why not tell people that directly and as soon as possible? It would have been useful information for parents to have when they were deciding whether or not to have their children vaccinated. Have there been cases of the flu that have required patients to be hospitalized? If there have been no severe cases, tell us that regularly as well.

People understand what the general risks are, and the Centers for Disease Control Web site at www.flu.gov gives plenty of valuable information. What's missing in a regular update on what's happening on the ground here.

Every time the health department sits down to assess just where we are, an up-to-date statement letting the rest of us know would be enormously helpful to the families and institutions that play a part in keeping people healthy during the outbreak.