It's summer time now, and the days are beginning to heat up.
But state health officials are thinking ahead to fall and what could be a busy flu season.
To help prepare, the state Department of Health announced today that Gov. Chris Gregoire has authorized emergency funding that includes $700,000 to buy additional antiviral medications to go with supplies already received from the federal Strategic National Stockpile.
The allocation also includes $150,000 that will be used to cover part of the costs of the response this spring when the pandemic flu strain was detected in Washington.
"There's no way to be sure what the next flu season will bring, yet we know that this global outbreak isn't over," Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said in a news release.
Gregoire and Selecky praised state health officials as well as local health providers for their response this spring.
But even though the symptoms of the outbreak this spring were similar to those of seasonal flu, Gregoire noted that the H1N1 flu was recently declared the first global flu outbreak in 41 years.
"It's wise to prepare for whatever the flu season brings this fall by ordering more antiviral medications now," Gregoire said.
