Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard:
Seasonal flu is can often be very serious. So we want to be sure that we remind people
that the average annual flu that we get is something people should take precautions about.
We estimate that about 36,000 people annually die from the seasonal flu.
Now what happened last spring is that we saw a new novel virus of the flu developing.
It was commonly called the swine flu, that's how most people know it but the formal term is H1N1 flu virus.
That developed last spring. It's similar to the flu in its severity,
but it seems to be affecting different groups of people.
With the traditional flu we worry about the elderly and young children.
With the H1N1 we're seeing it affecting different groups of people.
It seems to be affecting school age children,
it's affecting adults that have underlying illnesses like asthma and diabetes.
It's affecting pregnant women.
So one thing we've been doing at the state level is really monitoring how that's been developing.
Since it's novel and a new strain,
we've been monitoring it and tracking how it's been developing
who's most at risk and what we can do to prevent it.
This summer Governor Corzine directed me to engage with all of our local partners
and we held a series of summits to prepare for the fall return of H1N1.
We've held four days thus far of our pandemic flu preparedness summit
and we have a fifth day coming up at the end of September,
and we've been gathering hundreds of our local health and emergency preparedness partners to plan.
We've been doing things like planning how we're going to vaccinate people.
How we're going to make sure we get personal protective equipment out to those who need it.
Working with our local partners and our hospitals to ensure that they're prepared for a potential surge of new patients.
We also have been working closely with the department of education
and local education officials on how to get our schools ready.
We know that... what we learned in the spring is that since kids seem to be particularly susceptible
and we know that kids are very effective at spreading the flu because they play so close together
is that we really need focus on our schools.
And we want to make sure our schools are able to stay open so our kids can continue to learn.
The symptoms are very similar to the traditional flu. Fever, cough, aches and pains..
it's very similar to the traditional flu, and so you may not know which it is,
and the treatments are the same. So really what you need to do is look out for those symptoms.
There are very common sense precautions that people can take that you
.. that people and their families can take to protect themselves.
Some of them are as basic as common sense hygiene, and people have heard it before but it bears repeating...
Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water,
covering your coughs and sneezes for example with your elbow...
and staying home if you're sick.
And that can be hard we know, but...
if you stay home when you're sick then that means that hopefully
in our schools and in our workplaces.
Make sure to talk to your healthcare provider and if you're symptoms worsen
and you feel you need to, you can always go to an emergency room
but make sure you talk to your doctor
and make sure he or she knows how your symptoms are developing
and of course most importantly make sure you're staying home if you're sick.
We know that the federal government has been working over the course of the summer
to develop a vaccine for the swine flu or H1N1 and if those test prove
that there is a safe and effective vaccine it should be available in mid October.
When that comes we're going to encourage everyone to get that vaccine
and when we know more of course we'll be doing a public awareness campaign
and making sure people know that it's available.
The good news is that on our web site nj.gov/health,
we have a find a flu shot button so for anybody who doesn't have a regular doctor
or doesn't know where to go to get a flu shot,
click on that button put in your zip code and it'll tell you where to go to get a flu shot.
Governor Corzine was very pleased to announce that we're going to be able to offer that shot
to anyone who needs it and wants that shot, there will be clinics in every county
across the state and we've made sure to remove all financial barriers so if you don't have health insurance
so if you don't have health insurance you can get access to a free shot through public health clinics
or through your community health center.
The developing outbreak of swine flu is cause for concern but not cause for alarm.
We've been using these months over the summer to prepare for the return.
People can take common sense protections to prevent the spread and protect their families.
The vaccine will be available we believe in mid-October and we hope everyone who wants to get a vaccine,
it will be available to anyone who needs it regardless of whether you have health insurance
and we've removed all financial barriers and really it's cause for concern but not for alarm.