Swine Flu Update – Relax, but Not Too Much

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

The Washington Department of Health (DOH) announced Monday, May 11, that it has deactivated its Emergency Operations Center which has been overseeing the statewide response to Swine Flu. The Public Health Lab will continue to run tests and produce daily situation reports this week.

As of Tuesday morning, May 12, the official count of influenza cases involving the Swine Flu (H1N1) virus was: 176 confirmed and 19 probable cases. Saturday the DOH reported the death of a 30-year-old Snohomish County man with underlying medical complications in addition to the virus. That is the only H1N1-related death reported in Washington to date.

Camp Orkila and the Salmonberry School on Orcas, both closed in early May due to concerns about Swine Flu, are open again with no apparent spread of the disease to employees or other County residents.

San Juan County’s Health Officer, Dr. Frank James, said Monday that he is still getting several inquiries a day about flu cases and he said more cases of flu – though not necessarily the “novel” influenza caused by the H1N1 virus – will likely occur here before summer.  He reinforced the message that people with flu-like symptoms should avoid public contact and asked for cooperation making sure that school-age children stay home if they are ill.

So far, no confirmed cases involve San Juan County residents; however local health officials are still awaiting the results of tests on at least one sample that has been submitted to the state laboratory. King County leads the state in confirmed cases of the swine flu with 121, Snohomish is second with 34. None of the other 8 counties where the flu has been detected has more than a half-dozen confirmed

While easing its state of alert, the DOH indicates it is far from ready to call the Swine Flu threat over. It has announced that it has begun work on an analysis of this season’s outbreak in preparation for a possible resurgence of the disease in the fall.