Remember that swine flu alert?
Although the topic has all but disappeared lately from the day's top news stories, today' s announcement by the World Health Organization will likely change that. This morning, the WHO declared its first flu pandemic in 41 years and is raising the swine flu alert to its highest level.
Washington state now ranks seventh in the nation in the number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control. As of June 5, there were 577 confirmed cases in our state. (Wisconsin has the highest number of confirmed cases at 2,217.)
According to Wendy Freitag, business liaison to the Emergeny Management Division, this virus remains a serious public health issue for employers.
"We're currently trying to determine what this [new threat phase] really means to us here locally and are there any other proactive measures we should be tracking as a result of this? We're trying to help businesses understand what this new WHO phase 6 means to them."
The greatest spread of the disease right now is in the southern hemisphere -- Australia, in particular -- where the seasons are reversed. Preparations are underway now in the U.S. to determine how best to prepare for the change of seasons later this fall.
The USA Today, famous for pioneering the information graphic, has generated some interesting interactive flu maps, including a time lapse map of cases in the U.S., a world view map tracking the spread of the virus and an interactive graphic explaining how various flu viruses combined to cause a new strain.
AWB will participate in a special Department of Health Webinar Monday about the new threat level and what it means for employers in Washington state. Watch this space visit our Web site, keep tabs via our Twitter account or check out our Facebook Fan Page for updates and ways you can get your business questions about the virus answered.
