People Living in Residential Facilities
Do you live or work in a long-term care or rehabilitation facility, a military base, a dorm, a camp? Do you manage a prison or jail? Germs can spread more easily in residential settings, and during South Carolina's 2010-11 flu season, we ask that you make a special effort to do all you can to slow the spread of flu.
In normal years, seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans and hospitalizes 200,000 each year. Influenza can cause mild to severe respiratory illness and other symptoms.
We urge you to follow the guidelines below and work closely with us to slow the spread and severity of South Carolina's flu season.
Symptoms of Flu
The flu is different from the common cold. When a person gets the flu, one or more of these symptoms will probably come on suddenly – about 48 to 72 hours after contact with the virus:
- Fever (usually high)
- Headache
- Extreme tiredness
- Dry cough
- Sore throat
- Runny or stuffy nose
- Muscle aches
- Occasionally, stomach symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Urgent Warning Signs
These symptoms indicate that a resident, employee or guest needs to seek medical attention immediately.
In adults:
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Sudden dizziness
- Confusion
- Severe or persistent vomiting.
In children:
- Fast breathing or trouble breathing
- Bluish skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Not waking up or not interacting
- Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
- Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
- Fever with a rash.
High Risk Groups
Several groups are at higher risk of developing the flu or experiencing flu related complications. These include:
- Children younger than 5, but especially children older than 2 years old
- Adults 65 years of age and older people of any age who have chronic medical conditions (e.g. diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, lung disease)
- Pregnant women
- See People at High Risk of Developing Flu Related Complications
Advice for People Who Manage Residential Settings
Make a flu response plan using this information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Health Tips for Visiting Nursing Homes
- How Flu Spreads
- Plan for the Impact of Influenza Pandemic on Your Business
- Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist
Protect Your Residents, Staff and Visitors
Encourage staff to learn the facts about vaccination and get vaccinated against influenza.- Tell your employees about Web sites that can help them find DHEC flu clinics and locate clinics offered by other community providers.
- Require employees to stay home if they have a fever of 100ºF or higher with a cough or sore throat.
- Require staff who have the flu to remain at home until their fever has been gone for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications. In most cases employees with the flu will miss 3 to 5 days.
- Expect and plan for higher than normal staff absences during flu season. Establish a list of on-call workers to cover for employees who are ill.
- Change your policies to encourage and support rather than penalize staff who must miss work because they are ill with the flu or caring for a family member who has the flu. When symptoms are mild, the employee may not need to see a health care provider, so it’s best not to require a doctor’s excuse. Also, some employees may be forced to stay home in an outbreak due to school and child care closings. Employees who stay home when sick are helping to protect other employees, customers and the public. Allow them to do this without fear of losing their jobs.
- Separate ill residents from the general residential population.
- Recommend that residents and staff who have flu symptoms see their health care provider right away if they are at high risk for complications from the flu. Early treatment with antiviral medications may help lessen the symptoms. Those at high risk include:
- Adults and children who have chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes or other lung, heart, liver, blood, neurologic, neuromuscular, or metabolic disorders
- Pregnant women
- People aged 65 years or older
- Adults and children with weak immune systems
- Children younger than 5 years old
- Children younger than 18 years who are on long-term aspirin treatment
- Encourage residents and staff to wash their hands often with soap and water. Ask them to get into the habit of washing their hands for about as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice.
- Ask residents and staff to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze and throw the tissue in the trash.
- Encourage residents to eat a healthy diet, exercise and get plenty of rest.
- Frequently wipe down commonly touched surfaces like stairway railings, telephones, and door handles. Otherwise, follow your normal housekeeping routine. Get additional information on environmental disinfection to prevent flu from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Download, post and distribute free DHEC flu materials.
- Educate everyone in your facility about the dangers of giving aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) to children or teenagers who have the flu. This can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome.
- Dorms and camps and other group residential settings that have the option to do so may want to consider selective closings if there is a flu outbreak in your facility. This is especially true if your residents include people with chronic health conditions or pregnant women.
Vaccination
Flu vaccines are your residents’ and staff members’ best protection against the flu.
These Groups Need Flu Vaccines the Most
The CDC identified certain groups of people who are particularly susceptible to influenza viruses. SCDHEC urges all South Carolinians to get influenza vaccines.
The following persons should seek an influenza vaccine as soon as possible:
- All persons aged >50 years
- All children aged 6 months to 4 years (59 months)
- Adults and children who have chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except isolated hypertension), renal, hepatic, neurological, hematological or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus)
- Adults and children who are immunosuppressed (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus
- Women who are or will be pregnant during the influenza season
- Children and adolescents (aged 6 months-18 years) who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy and therefore might be at risk for experiencing Reye syndrome after influenza virus infection
- Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
- American Indians/Alaska Natives
- Persons who are morbidly obese (BMI>40)
- Healthcare personnel
- Household contacts and caregivers of children aged <5 years and adults aged >50 years, with particular emphasis on vaccinating contacts of children aged <6 months
- Household contacts and caregivers of persons with medical conditions that put them at high risk for severe complications from influenza.
Get updates on vaccine availability in South Carolina, learn more about vaccine safety, and find a flu vaccine clinic in your local area.
Also see these CDC resources on flu vaccines:
- Flu Myths and Realities
- Vaccines and Immunizations for Pregnant Women
- Children, the Flu, and the Flu Vaccine
Flu Information in Other Languages:
If, after reading the information available on our website, you have questions about the vaccine,
please call 1-800-27SHOTS (1-800-277-4687).
