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September 1, 2009
Paterson offers assurances on flu
Cara Matthews
Gannett Albany Bureau
ALBANY ? In the first of six town-hall meetings on the H1N1 virus, Gov. David Paterson and other officials gave assurances Monday that the state is prepared for a possible resurgence of the virus.
New Yorkers should be confident that the state is doing everything possible to keep children and families safe and healthy, the governor said.
"We will increase our level of response based on where the virus is," he said.
The virus first appeared in New York this spring, and the state had a total of 1,217 cases outside New York City as of Aug. 22, according to the Health Department. There were four confirmed cases upstate the week of Aug. 16 through 22, the latest figures available Monday.
H1N1 never really went away in New York, said Dr. Richard Daines, state health commissioner. Over the summer, there were "mini-outbreaks" at some summer camps.
School-age children are particularly vulnerable, Daines said. It has appeared to spare people 60 and over because they were exposed to a similar virus in the late 1950s, he said.
A vaccine for the novel H1N1 virus is expected to be ready for distribution in mid-October. The state Health Department will work with other agencies and local governments to make it available as soon as possible, the governor said.
Daines said the groups that will be first in line for the vaccine, which is given in two doses, are infants and children from 6 months to 24 years, then health care workers, pregnant women and people with serious underlying health problems like heart disease and diabetes. As more becomes available, it will be provided to people who don't fall into one of those high-risk categories, he said.
The state Health Department is recommending that all New Yorkers receive vaccinations for seasonal flu. About 2,000 state residents die each year from seasonal flu.
Basic measures like washing hands frequently, avoiding people who are sick, and staying home from work or school when sick can help prevent the spread of the virus.
Some of the other measures the state Health Department is taking include meeting with professional medical associations about making the vaccine available to health providers, meeting with pharmacy groups to enlist their help in the state's vaccination efforts, and distributing educational materials to the public.
Daines urged people who think they might have the H1N1 virus not to go to emergency rooms unless they have to. Many people went to emergency rooms last spring to be "checked out," and some hospitals had trouble handling the surge in demand, he said.
When the virus first appeared this spring, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state initially recommended that schools where it was showing up be shut down for a certain time period. They have since changed that recommendation and are not advising that schools be closed as an initial step in preventing the spread of the virus.
"Because the virus would make its way into a school with kids even before they were sick or they never really had major symptoms, it already established itself, and by closing the school, at that point you sort of dispersed it out into the community but you didn't reduce it," Daines said.
CLMATTHE@Gannett.com
Additional Facts
Local visit
The Novel H1N1 Influenza Town Hall Meeting Tour will stop at Monroe Community College at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Paterson offers assurances on flu
Cara Matthews
Gannett Albany Bureau
ALBANY ? In the first of six town-hall meetings on the H1N1 virus, Gov. David Paterson and other officials gave assurances Monday that the state is prepared for a possible resurgence of the virus.
New Yorkers should be confident that the state is doing everything possible to keep children and families safe and healthy, the governor said.
"We will increase our level of response based on where the virus is," he said.
The virus first appeared in New York this spring, and the state had a total of 1,217 cases outside New York City as of Aug. 22, according to the Health Department. There were four confirmed cases upstate the week of Aug. 16 through 22, the latest figures available Monday.
H1N1 never really went away in New York, said Dr. Richard Daines, state health commissioner. Over the summer, there were "mini-outbreaks" at some summer camps.
School-age children are particularly vulnerable, Daines said. It has appeared to spare people 60 and over because they were exposed to a similar virus in the late 1950s, he said.
A vaccine for the novel H1N1 virus is expected to be ready for distribution in mid-October. The state Health Department will work with other agencies and local governments to make it available as soon as possible, the governor said.
Daines said the groups that will be first in line for the vaccine, which is given in two doses, are infants and children from 6 months to 24 years, then health care workers, pregnant women and people with serious underlying health problems like heart disease and diabetes. As more becomes available, it will be provided to people who don't fall into one of those high-risk categories, he said.
The state Health Department is recommending that all New Yorkers receive vaccinations for seasonal flu. About 2,000 state residents die each year from seasonal flu.
Basic measures like washing hands frequently, avoiding people who are sick, and staying home from work or school when sick can help prevent the spread of the virus.
Some of the other measures the state Health Department is taking include meeting with professional medical associations about making the vaccine available to health providers, meeting with pharmacy groups to enlist their help in the state's vaccination efforts, and distributing educational materials to the public.
Daines urged people who think they might have the H1N1 virus not to go to emergency rooms unless they have to. Many people went to emergency rooms last spring to be "checked out," and some hospitals had trouble handling the surge in demand, he said.
When the virus first appeared this spring, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state initially recommended that schools where it was showing up be shut down for a certain time period. They have since changed that recommendation and are not advising that schools be closed as an initial step in preventing the spread of the virus.
"Because the virus would make its way into a school with kids even before they were sick or they never really had major symptoms, it already established itself, and by closing the school, at that point you sort of dispersed it out into the community but you didn't reduce it," Daines said.
CLMATTHE@Gannett.com
Additional Facts
Local visit
The Novel H1N1 Influenza Town Hall Meeting Tour will stop at Monroe Community College at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
