H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) Information for Parents

This page provides parents and students heading back to school with some important information on H1N1 flu.

As children return to school and spend less time outdoors and more time in confined spaces, such as classrooms, we expect to see more illness caused by H1N1 flu.

H1N1 flu is assumed to be present throughout Contra Costa County. Students in Contra Costa County will not be dismissed for cases of H1N1 influenza, unless there is a large number of students or faculty who are ill which interferes with the school's ability to function. Contra Costa Health Services will consider school and childcare dismissal on an individual basis, taking into consideration health information available at the time.

Please Follow These Prevention Tips:

Wash Your Hands The Right Way

Washing your hands is simple and it's the best way to prevent infection and illness. Teach your children to wash their hands the right way!

• Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
• Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
• Continue rubbing hands for 15-20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing "Happy Birthday" twice through to a friend.
• Rinse hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer.
• If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
• Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.

If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast-acting.

• Apply hand rub to the palm of one hand
• Rub hands together
• Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry

Avoid Contact with Sick People

Try to avoid close contact (within six feet) with anyone who is sick with the flu. People of any age with chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), pregnant women, young children and people 65 years and older should be especially careful. Infants should not be cared for by sick family members.

Stay Home if Sick

If your child is sick, keep him/her home for seven days, even if they feel better earlier. To keep sick children from infecting others, they should not return to school until they have had no fever for 24 hours. A doctor's note is not necessary to return to school.

View our daily questionnaire to see if your child is sick and should stay home from school.

Cover Coughs and Sneezes

H1N1 spreads from person to person in the same way as seasonal flu: through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. The influenza virus is put into the air and inhaled by those nearby or picked up from surfaces where the virus might have landed.

Teach children to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Make sure they throw the tissue in the trash after they've used it and wash their hands the right way.

If tissue is not available, teach children the "Dracula cough," cough or sneeze into their inner elbow or upper arm like Dracula hides his face.

Get Vaccinated

Although we don't know when H1N1 flu vaccine will be available, there will be seasonal flu vaccine available in the fall. Seasonal flu vaccine doesn't protect against H1N1 flu, but it does protect you from seasonal influenza viruses. Every year, 36,000 people die from illness related to seasonal flu in the United States.

The seasonal flu vaccine is recommended for all children ages 6 months to 19 years. This is because, as we learned with H1N1 flu, children often get the flu at school, and then can bring it home to the family. We especially want to protect younger siblings and older relatives with weaker immune systems who can have serious complications from the flu. Flu vaccine keeps children healthy and prevents them from spreading the flu to others.

Seasonal flu vaccine is also recommended for almost everyone else in our community—especially pregnant women, those who are 50 years and older, health care workers, those who care for children under 5 years old, and everyone who has a chronic illness, such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease.

To find out where to get seasonal flu vaccine for you and your family, contact your health care provider or health plan. You can also call the Public Health Flu Hotline at 925-313-6469 or visit www.flucliniclocator.org.

See more information about Seasonal Flu.

Health Emergency Information Line: 1-888-959-9911.

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