Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009

Wash your hands and stay cool

I have two young children in school.

I get messages from concerned parents every week convinced there is a swine flu danger in local public schools that is being ignored and that it poses a major threat to the health of their children.

I followed the news about the first confirmed "swine flu death" in South Carolina, an 11-year-old Midlands girl. It was announced by DHEC several weeks ago. Since then, various reports have said there have been up to eight S.C. deaths in which swine flu was "a contributing factor.

I've seen the conspicuous signs posted throughout the Coastal Carolina University campus, where I advise the school's newspaper staff. The signs instruct students, faculty and staff to do their part in preventing the spread of swine flu by washing their hands frequently. I've spent lots of class time trying to impress upon CCU student journalists the need to provide context and accurate information in all stories, but especially for stories such as these where fact and fiction and fear and foresight unfortunately mix.

I've listened to doctors and White House experts, checked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the facts. I've heard the estimates that billions of dollars of productivity maybe lost because of the usual flu strain and the swine flu.

I've tried really hard to get worked up about the swine flu. I just can't.

I wash my hands thoroughly and frequently, cover my coughs, plan to have the family vaccinated (in the past I've skipped flu shots) and will stay away from the office or keep my kids out of school for the recommended amount of time if we get sick.

But I won't fret about it.

What we know now is that most of the people who contract swine flu get sick - some nastily sick, some only moderately so - then go on about their lives as normal.

We know that the normal flu takes the lives of roughly 36,000 Americans annually and that the swine flu has yet to come close to that figure.

We know, according to the CDC, that those born before 1957 are the least likely to die from swine flu, probably because they were exposed to "ancestors of the new pandemic virus" and have "protective antibodies."

And we know that the more people who take the simple recommendations seriously, such as washing hands and other common sense steps - and avoiding panic - will help contain the spread of the virus and unnecessary fear.