EDITORIALS
Take care at camp
Swine flu precautions should help lessen risks and ensure safe summer
As if the death of one child from swine flu wasn’t enough of a shock here, another young child has lost a struggle with the disease and medial complications. Although there are hopes that the flu may now be in decline after only minor impacts on most people, the deaths stand as tragic reminders of the vigilance needed to prevent infections.
So it’s no wonder directives have been issued by health officials advising summer camp staff and volunteers on the proper protocols for dealing with everything from sneezing to bed rest.
Sadly, 9-year-old Maya Harden of Buffalo died in Women &Children’s Hospital late last month. She had been in critical condition for 11 days. Only a week earlier, Matthew Davis, 15, died in the same hospital following complications from swine flu, the H1N1 virus.
Even those with medical degrees and expertise would hesitate to draw conclusions about connections, but both children also were infected with a type of bacteria called MRSA—methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus.
On an even more poignant note, both were students in the Buffalo School District, where officials have had the sad and difficult task of informing the school community, parents and the public of two losses so close together.
Flu kills an estimated 35,000 people during an average flu season. It is still difficult to comprehend the deaths of those who are so young, and were healthy.
For that reason, it is urgent that summer camp officials set precautions. Toward that end, legitimate concern over the H1N1 virus led to the early cancellation of “Jerry’s Kids” at a camp in suburban Rochester, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association later canceled the rest of that national summer camp program—citing health concerns for campers who are more vulnerable because of weakened respiratory muscles.
Both were good decisions, but so is following the six-page advisory issued by the Erie County health commissioner’s office. It’s as straightforward as requiring staff members and campers to cough and sneeze into a tissue, wash hands frequently and arrange beds to provide the most distance between campers’ faces.
Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV has indicated that many people in this area already have been exposed to the H1N1 virus with only mild symptoms, which may lessen the risk of even more contagion. But health officials have no way of conclusively determining who will be stricken by swine flu, or the outcome. As Billittier noted, “You’d have to be a fortune teller.”
With school out for the summer, one possible focus of contagion for the young has been reduced. The flu need not derail summer camp plans, but taking even more precautions than usual to lessen the risk is just common sense.
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