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Below are several resources for Scout Leaders to educate themselves about how to properly and responsibly prepare to react to the H1N1 flu virus outbreak.
In addition to monitoring these sources I will keep an eye on our school district’s webpage for announcements and check in at our local council for direction. Our scouts and families know if school is dismissed we generally don’t hold Scout meetings. We’ll take a few minutes to review the guidelines below with our Scouts at our next meeting.
Scouting Magazine’s Cracker Barrel Blog
Let’s get serious. The H1N1 flu, commonly known as “swine flu,” is spreading rapidly across the United States, and the BSA is asking all unit leaders to be prepared and stay informed.
The CDC has the most up-to-date information on the H1N1 flu at their Web site, and the BSA’s Health and Safety team has offered these tips:
- Take everyday actions to stay healthy. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Germs spread that way.
- If you have flulike symptoms, stay home and update your employer regularly. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
To stay informed, bookmark the BSA’s Health and Safety alert page. Make sure to pass this message along to your Scouts at your next unit meeting.
B.S.A. Health and Safety Alerts Webpage
Be Prepared
Now is a good time to review your personal and business continuity plans.
Engage
your local Health and Safety and/or Risk Management resources to assist
in review of any activities, events, or gatherings. Some examples from
around the BSA include:
- Liaison with local public health officials for council or district gatherings.
- Publish FAQs to address common questions about unit activities and provide local guidance.
- Implement day or resident camp-style medical screenings in conjuction with your camp physician at events or gatherings.
- Review policies on care of an ill participant or one who becomes ill at an event, including quarantine procedures.
- Review business interruption and event cancellation clauses in insurance policies.
- Place hyperlinks to either the CDC or Scouting Safely Alerts on your Web sites.
CDC N1H1 Information
General information about the virus.
CDC School and Childcare Dismissal
Specific guidance for schools and child care centers
or childcare-related gatherings should also be canceled. Parents and
students should be encouraged to avoid congregating in large numbers
outside of the school setting.”
I don’t think there’s a greater health risk right now like the h1n1 swine flu virus, the government isn’t telling us everything about this pandemic. It will kill thousands more this fall/winter.
H1N1 (referred to as “swine flu” early on) is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. Symptoms of swine flu are similar to those caused by other influenza viruses. Health authorities across the globe are taking steps to try to stem the spread of swine flu after outbreaks in Mexico and the United States. The World Health Organization has called it a “public health emergency of international concern.”
Hello Clarke,
Interesting point about 1918. What is currently being done now that would have prevented a fall breakout in 1918? As far as I can tell, the country’s response was pretty desultory (no limits on travel, no border limits). Given how easily flu can be transmitted and level of travel, I think the pathogen was already seeded all over the country.
Unfortunately, preventing pandemics is something like preventing terror plots: you never really know how serious the original threat was, so you usually don’t know what level of effort was needed, unless you’ve failed.
All that said, I’m glad it has been mild.
We have an H1N1 agenda item in our committee meeting tonight.
My intention is not to foment panic or over-reaction. Both are best challenged by knowledge and that is the point of the post.
I’ll take exception to your characterization of society as having a zero risk tolerance, or the reaction to the H1N1 virus as being overwrought.
I think it was both prudent and measured to take very strong precautions about a virus that was little understood. Now that it has been analyzed precautions are being reduced – a much better approach than not doing enough.
The 1918 pandemic really cut loose in the fall of that year was preceded by a more typical flu outbreak in March. Had officials taken stronger measures in March they may have prevented the second wave in the fall.
Sorry, put this in your other excellent post. Feel free to remove it from that one.
Greetings Clarke,
Normal flu kills something like 16,000 Americans each year, yet we barely acknowledge it. So far we have seen 2(!) deaths from H1N1 in the US. Is the current reaction to H1N1 an over-reaction? Is the current national response yet another expression of our society’s zero tolerance of risk? If so, should we encourage it by going along, or challenge it?
I am aware of the “Spanish flu” in 1918 which truly was a pandemic and it does seem clear that over history we will experience more pandemics as viruses continue their evolutionary dances.
How do we do “manage risk” prudently here?