Snowflake Council Hears Update On H1N1 Virus

By Naomi Hatch
   According to the Navajo County Public Health Services District, since April there have been at least 50 confirmed cases of H1N1.
   “We have moved from logging numbers of cases to accept that it’s pretty much throughout the county,” said Dr. Wade Kartchner, who heads the district, during a presentation to the Snowflake Town Council Sept. 22.
   Kartchner gave a brief overview of the flu season and specifically addressed the ramifications H1N1 might have on the Town of Snowflake. “That’s part of our mandate, to bring these issues up,” he explained.
   “We’ve moved on from there and moved on to how we’re going to mitigate those portions of the county,” said Kartchner, referring to the number of cases in Navajo County. “It doesn’t appear to be more serious, but we have seen it’s affecting a young population,” noting that this strain seems to be affecting children, and middle aged and younger adults.
   The district is working with Arizona Center for public Health Preparedness and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). He has met with school superintendents in Navajo and Apache counties in case H1N1 becomes a worse outbreak than they suspect.
   “What does it mean for the Town of Snowflake?” he asked. “The objectives are to reduce transmission of the flu amongst staff, maintaining business operations as well as minimizing effects in other entities in town. The main point we want to get across here is that sick persons need to stay home. Also, sick employees at work need to be asked to go home. You should cover your cough and sneeze, encourage employees to wash their hands more frequently, provide alcohol sanitizers.”
   He asked the council to encourage employees to get vaccinated and take measures to protect employees who are at a higher risk.
   “Here’s an important one,” said Kartchner. “We need to prepare to encourage employee absences due to illness and plan ways for essential services to continue. If you do have employees traveling out of state or out of country, they need to take provisions to protect themselves so they aren’t getting ill and bringing it back in.”
   The CDC anticipates the H1N1 will be mild cases, but Kartchner said, “If we have a worse flu season and recommend school closures for a week or more, again we don’t have plans for that. What would happen if your employees had all their children at home? It would have a serious impact on all businesses, but certainly the town as well.”
   Councilman Jason Whiting acknowledged that there’s a lot of concern about the flu due to the media and other publicity, and asked how the town could set up a clinic such as the one in Blue Ridge.
   Kartchner explained that each year they hold clinics called “Big Shot” in a different community and this year it will be in Blue Ridge. They will also have them on the reservation, in Winslow and in Holbrook.
   The seasonal flu vaccine is available and the H1N1 vaccine will be rolled out in mid-October. The seasonal flu shot carries a charge of generally about $20 and there is no cost for the H1N1 vaccine unless the clinic requires an administration fee.
   In response to a question posed by Councilman Dean Porter, Town Manager Paul Watson said that they will be discussing this issue at the next staff meeting.
   A brochure on the H1N1 virus is available through Navajo County Health Services.