Media warnings about the swine flu sound dire, yet about 3 million Americans have caught the virus since April, according to Dr. Frank Welch, the state’s medical director for pandemic preparedness. That translates to 35,000 Louisianans who have been exposed to H1N1. “We no longer even encourage normal and healthy people to go to their doctor,” he says. “Just stay home, rest, take Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Once you’ve been fever-free for 24 hours (without fever-reducing medicine), you can go back to school or work.”
A recent report by a presidential advisory panel said 90,000 Americans could die from the virus in the next year, but Welch says that figure was a worst-case scenario to support a vaccination push, not a prediction of an actual victim toll. “There certainly are more potent or more powerful strains,” he says, noting that about 580 people in the state are thought to have contracted swine flu in the current pandemic; three have died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will distribute vaccine this fall across the country, Welch says, with a plan to provide 25 million doses for the most at-risk in October and November. Those people include pregnant mothers, adults with chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma and very young children.
Yet anybody could get a little sick from the bug. “Working personnel are going to be ill. We’ll have increased absenteeism,” says Dr. Flip Robert, chief medical officer for Baton Rouge General Medical Center. “Most businesses are contemplating some sort of workforce plan.” For the CDC’s tips for businesses on how to cope with H1N1, click here.—Todd R. Brown
This story has been changed since it was originally published.
