The following letter is from Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. David Bowering.
Re: Pandemic Influenza
The second phase of Pandemic Influenza is in our communities and we expect that it is likely to result
in a large number of ill students and staff in your schools. Although there is no need to panic, it is a
good idea to take steps that will help you to respond. As you know from information provided through
provincial channels, flu virus spreads quickly, from person-to-person through droplets from the
coughing or sneezing of a sick person. Fortunately there are a number of very effective control
measures that will limit transmission. Northern Health would like to encourage you to institute control
measures now to limit the impact on your staff and students.
We would also like to offer our assistance with communicating these control measures to your
students and staff. Some of the recommendations include:
• Stay informed and up-to-date – check the Ministry of Health, Pandemic Influenza and B.C.
Centre for Disease Control websites and read articles, watch the news, and listen to the radio
• Monitor flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to prevent the spread of flu
within the school.
• Communicate with the NH about the status of the pandemic and those best practices shown
to control it.
• Support influenza vaccination for both students and staff.
• Increase environmental sanitation to ensure the virus can’t infect someone from a
contaminated surface.
• Teach good hygiene to protect students from the influenza virus:
o Teach children to wash their hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds.
Be sure teachers set a good example by doing this themselves.
o Teach children to cough and sneeze into a tissue or into the inside of their elbow.
Again this is best demonstrated by teachers repetitively.
o Children and staff who are sick with flu-like symptoms should stay home from school
and away from other people until they are symptom free and feeling well enough to
participate fully in school activities.
The best defense is to keep people informed with the best practices proven to work against viral
spread. We would like to offer our Public Health Protection team’s assistance in communicating to
your students and staff. There are a number of ways this could be implemented. We have
hand washing posters that our staff can drop off at your facilities. Hand washing / Pandemic
age-specific presentations could be made to young children or older students. Because of the
number of potential students that could benefit from these presentations, the most efficient method
would be to present to large assemblies, or to groups, such as Leadership Clubs. These Clubs could
then develop the capacity to present to other students. In addition, we could communicate with
maintenance staff about the need for and best practices in environmental sanitation.
British Columbia continues to monitor the H1N1 flu virus situation in the province. For the school
guidelines and for the latest B.C. back-to-school and general information about the H1N1 flu virus,
visit www.gov.bc.ca/h1n1.
We look forward to helping support your school’s pandemic influenza transmission control efforts. If
you have questions or to arrange presentations please call Sheila Withrow, Northeast Manager,
Public Health Protection at 250-719-6563.
Sincerely,
David Bowering, MD, Chief Medical Health Officer