As community leaders, nonprofits should be aware of this possible threat to public health and organizational capacity, and take steps to minimize its effects.
According to Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, communities are likely to be surprised by the severity of the flu and the speed with which it spreads.
Parents with school age children should expect students to be sent home if showing signs of flu and may be required to remain away from school for 3-5 days after fever subsides.
Businesses and other organizations should anticipate multiple employee absences due to personal or family illness; management should review sick leave policies in case of widespread disease, allowing affected personnel maximum leave flexibility in order to limit additional infections.
A H1N1 vaccine is not expected to be widely available until mid-October. Until then, best precautions against person-to-person infection include:
- Covering mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing
- Regular, thorough hand washing with soap and warm water and the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers
- Avoiding close contact with sick people
LANO provides its member organizations proven guidance on emergency preparedness, including how best to minimize the effects of epidemic disease or other public health concern. For more information, see www.lano.org/disasterpreparedness.
For more on the H1N1 virus and pandemic, see:
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