EOHU urges calm in light of H1N1 activity

UPDATED: 5 p.m.

In light of recent media coverage and public concern surrounding the H1N1 influenza, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, chief medical officer of health at the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU), held a press conference late Thursday afternoon to provide an update on the status of its immunization clinics and school outbreaks.

"The two deaths related to H1N1 this past week - as tragic as they were - in Eastern Ontario and in Toronto are extremely, extremely rare cases," Roumeliotis said.

He wanted to remind parents that most children currently being admitted to hospital are under the age of five. Furthermore, "only a minority of cases even present trouble for children."

As the vaccine doses are still in the process of being distributed to the EOHU by the manufacturer, the health authority is asking that only those individuals belonging to high-risk groups attend the first round of immunization clinics, being introduced around the five Eastern Counties this weekend.

And please, the doctor added, don't attend if you have symptoms - you will not be allowed into the clinic:

"If you're sick, stay home - that's the message here."

The clinics start Friday, October 30 and for their first weekend have been extended one extra day to include Sunday, November 1. (See below for specific details.)

"We currently have about 24,000 doses of the vaccine," said Roumeliotis, adding: "I don't think it's enough to cover [the initial demand of] the entire population, let alone the priority groups, but we should be receiving more vaccines by the middle of next week. This is why we're really asking only priority groups to attend the October clinics."

High-risk or priority groups are defined as:

-         people under 65 with chronic medical conditions

-         some pregnant women, depending on health conditions and term

-         healthy children from 6 months to under 5 years old

-         healthcare workers

-         household contacts and care providers of persons who are at high risk but cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines

-         aboriginal peoples

"We are also expanding our program to immunize all children 18 years of age and under at our first clinics, assuming we have adequate vaccine to cover this additional group," the chief medical officer continued. "As of November, the clinics will be open to the rest of the population."

All other people - including otherwise healthy people and people over the age of 65 - are asked to stay home for the moment. As health professionals across the country have stressed, the sooner that high-risk people can receive the vaccine, the sooner the chances of limiting the spread of H1N1.

Roumeliotis noted there are roughly 198,000 people living in the five Eastern Counties who could potentially receive the vaccine. Eventually, he would like to see 50 per cent of those - or 100,000 people - seek the H1N1 shot.

People over the age of 65

The EOHU is asking people aged 65 and older to only come to the clinics at a later date. The doctor noted many are concerned they've been left out of the equation, but explained why.

"We very rarely see people over 65 infected with H1N1," said Roumeliotis. "The vast majority of those infected are young children and school-aged children - the median age being 18 or younger."

Due to the fact that people over 65 are usually more prone to the seasonal flu, he reiterated that the EOHU is exclusively now offering the seasonal flu vaccine to their age group - and urges them to get it.

School outbreaks

48 per cent of schools in the five Eastern Countries are currently in outbreak, said Roumeliotis.

An outbreak is defined as a school with an absenteeism rate of more than 10 per cent - due to H1N1-related illness or with symptoms comparable to it.

He noted the EOHU will soon have a surveillance tool on their website that will allow people to monitor such outbreaks.

"We're really not recommending school closures at this time," added the doctor, saying closures have not proven to be effective. "We know that H1N1 is already in the community, and kids are in the community anyway, and they are going to congregate [regardless of closures]."

Roumeliotis said the best method for schools to deal with this are proper hand-washing techniques, and added the EOHU is working with local boards to distribute infection control information as well as videos on hand-washing it has created specifically for children from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

"I also want to remind parents that a sick child should stay home until 24 hours after all symptoms other than a mild cough have resolved. This 'post-viral' cough can last a week or more, but during this time the child is not contagious and can return to school," he concluded.

The first round of clinics aimed at high-risk priority groups are on the following dates:

Friday, October 30, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday, October 31, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, November 1, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

At the following locations:

Hawkesbury: Ecole secondaire catholique régionale de Hawkesbury, 572 Kitchener St.

Cornwall: General Vanier Intermediate School, 1500 Cumberland St. N.

Rockland: Rockland District High School, 1004 St. Joseph St.

Alexandria: Glengarry District High School, 212 Main St. N.

Chesterville: North Dundas District High School, Civic 12835 Hwy 43

Casselman: Ecole secondaire catholique de Casselman, 778 Brébeuf St.

Please see www.eohu.ca for more details about future dates and times.