Take Simple Precautions to Stay Healthy During Holiday Travel

To: The Campus Community
From: UA Campus Emergency Response Team
Date: Nov. 24, 2009

With the holiday season upon us, many University of Arizona students, faculty and staff will be boarding planes, trains and automobiles to visit family and friends throughout the nation and world. During the holidays, people are brought together, both during travel and at holiday gatherings, providing an ideal setting for illness to spread. With the H1N1 flu virus still present, now is a good time to review some simple precautions to help stay healthy during this festive season.

Pay attention to your health before traveling | The best way to prevent the spread of the flu is to stay home if you're sick or have flu-like symptoms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends you get both H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines.

Practice good hygiene while traveling | Avoid people who are ill; wash your hands frequently with warm, soapy water or hand sanitizer and avoid touching your face; sneeze into your sleeve and not your hands.

Take precautions during air travel | If sitting within two rows of someone with respiratory symptoms (coughing, sneezing, congested), point the air vent toward the ill person, especially if they are sitting next to or directly in front or back of you. Pivot your body away from the ill person; also, you could ask the flight attendant to offer the ill person a mask to wear during the flight.

When traveling through airports, train or bus stations | Try not to touch the handrails on stairs or escalators unless necessary. If you touch such surfaces, try to keep your hands away from your face and wash your hands or
use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. This advice also applies after touching the handles of water fountains, ATMs or vending machines.

Some should consider canceling travel plans | Consider canceling travel plans if anyone in your group already is sick. Also, individuals in high-risk groups, such as the elderly, children under the age of 5, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems, might want to reconsider their travel plans.

If you get sick after arrival | If you have reached your destination and then experience flu symptoms, remain in your accommodations, except for necessary medical care, for at least 24 hours after your body temperature has remained normal without the use of fever-reducing medications.

The CDC has launched its largest-ever public awareness campaign in regard to staying healthy while traveling. For more information about the CDC Travelers' Health campaign, please visit wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/novel-h1n1-flu.aspx.

Updates on the H1N1 flu virus at the UA can be found at www.health.arizona.edu/webfiles/flunews.htm.

Flu Update

As anticipated, the number of H1N1 flu cases among members of the University of Arizona community is starting to increase again, in line with the increases being seen in the Tucson community. This was expected, as we enter the more traditional flu season (November through April) and start enjoying cooler weather. Like those people who contracted the virus earlier this year, the majority of people becoming ill with H1N1 flu have mild symptoms and recover within seven to 10 days. It is estimated that the H1N1
flu will be responsible for more than 80 percent of the flu cases during this flu season.

Flu prevention and illness management is still very important. Please continue to follow the guidelines that have been communicated throughout this pandemic flu outbreak.

MIND YOUR HANDS AND SNEEZES | Wash your hands frequently and for at least
20 seconds; keep your hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth; cover coughs and sneezes using a tissue or your sleeve (but not your bare hand).
Teach these practices to everyone at home.

IF YOU'RE SICK, STAY HOME | When you come to school or work sick, you’re putting the health of your classmates, instructors and co-workers at risk. Getting this virus will be especially serious for those considered "high-risk" for complications - pregnant women and people with diabetes, asthma, heart disease and other conditions. Along those same lines, we're asking you to stay away from health clinics and medical offices. If your symptoms are severe and you feel you need to seek medical help, please call your doctor’s office before going in. Severe symptoms include: fever of 102.5
degrees or higher, or a lower fever that lasts more than three days; severe cough or chest pain; nausea and vomiting; severe headache.

GET FLU SHOTS | We recommend you get the vaccine for the H1N1 flu. The Campus Health Service has received a very small supply of H1N1 vaccine and hopes to receive more later this month. Because early supplies of the vaccine will be very limited, the focus of our initial H1N1 flu vaccination efforts will be on people at greatest risk for complications from the flu, based on recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices:



· Students age 18 or younger with a high-risk medical condition


· People with physical disabilities 


· Pregnant women

· People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age.

Included among those in the initial group will be health care personnel and health professions students (medical students, nursing students, etc.).

As we receive more of the H1N1 vaccine, we will expand the availability of the shots to the next level of high-risk groups - people over 18 with high-risk medical conditions - and eventually to the entire campus community.

We will communicate the dates, times and locations of campus H1N1 flu shot clinics once the details are finalized. The H1N1 flu vaccine is produced in the same way as seasonal flu vaccines. The shots are expected to be just as safe and effective. They will not provide protection against seasonal flu, or against flu-like illnesses that can be caused by other viruses. To protect against seasonal flu, you’ll need to get a seasonal flu shot.



KEEP INFORMED | We recommend that you visit these sites for more information:




· UA preparedness planning: http://cert.arizona.edu


· A checklist of things to do to keep your family healthy:
 http://flu.gov/individual/checklist.html

· Campus flu information: www.health.arizona.edu/webfiles/flunews.htm