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Battling the 'bug'

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Schools take the offensive against flu ::

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Rebecca Trylch
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MIDLAND COUNTY (WJRT) -- (10/27/09) - Fighting the flu is on the minds of many in Mid-Michigan. What can you do to stay healthy?

In Saginaw County, there are only a thousand doses of the H1N1 vaccine available. Only health care workers can get them right now.

Without the vaccine, doctors say your best defense is being cautious.

"Getting it on your hands will not infect you. But people do this, and talk and touch their eyes and mouth, I washed my hands just before I came in, but that's how you're going to get it," said infectious disease specialist Dr. Dell DeHart from St. Mary's of Michigan.

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Another way doctors say H1N1 can be spread is through the air. DeHart says that means all those coughs and sneezes we see and hear every day could be a cause for concern.

But there are some things you can do to try and prevent the spread of the virus.

It might sound simple, but washing your hands is a first line of defense. If soap and water isn't available, use hand sanitizer.

Midland Chemical Company reports sales of hand sanitizer are up dramatically. We're told that businesses and home owners are buying it as fast as they can stock it.

Surface and air disinfectants are also selling fast. Professional cleaners promise to kill 99.9 percent of all germs, including the H1N1 virus.

But the folks at Midland Chemical Company say it's important that people are using the products correctly. For many disinfectants that means leaving it on a surface for 5 to 10 minutes.

"You don't want to spray it on and wipe it off right away. You want to spray it on, and let it set there so that it has a time to kill the germs that are there. Then you can wipe it off," explained company spokeswoman Lynne McCarger.

"We're just being more diligent, and doing it more often," said David Warren from Calvary Baptist Academy in Midland

That diligence is now part of the normal school day at Calvary Baptist Academy. "We've always had some hand sanitizers throughout the building in the classrooms. We disinfect at the end of each day. Now we find ourselves disinfecting more often," Warren said.

The people at Midland Chemical Company report schools and businesses are taking action because of flu fears. Hand sanitizer units are hot sellers.

"They are putting them up in the hallways in the schools and in the churches in the hallways and everything so that people have it right there," McCarger said.

At Calvary Baptist, 15 hallway units have been installed since last week.

"Students use them between class, after using the restroom, coming in from outside," said Warren.

DeHart says keeping your hands clean is extremely important this flu season. "Touching the face and touching your eyes, rubbing your eyes. People do it without thinking, like blinking."

Clean hands are just one part the flu fight at this school.

In the past, high-traffic rooms like computer labs were cleaned once a day. Now they're cleaned between every class.

"Not too bad because of shared responsibility. If one person had to do all of it, but the teachers have taken on parts of it, teachers aides, students," Warren said.

Click here for a listing of county health resources
Click here for our flu resource section
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