Blair leaders work to prevent swine flu

HOLLIDAYSBURG - Blair County leaders are working on efforts to restrict the potential spread of swine flu in county facilities.

Valley View Home and the county prison have plans in place, Commissioners Chairman Terry Tomassetti said Thursday.

But the county's exposure doesn't end with those facilities.

The courthouse is the county's largest public building, Tomassetti said.

Employees and visitors come and go daily from the courthouse, and on jury selection days, hundreds line up outside as they funnel through the single entrance and then head to a large meeting room while they wait to be called into a courtroom.

The county's Central Court building at Fourth Street and Sixth Avenue is another gathering place, Tomassetti said. Every Wednesday, people line the hallways and wait for criminal court proceedings before Altoona's three magisterial district judges.

Commissioners, who sit on the county's prison board, heard Thursday that PrimeCare Medical Inc., which handles the prison's medical care, has secured seasonal flu vaccines and is on a list to receive swine flu vaccines to administer to inmates.

Linda Bernard, regional coordinator for PrimeCare Medical Inc., said no current inmate has swine flu. If an inmate or inmates contract swine flu, she and Warden Michael Johnston said the prison is prepared to isolate or group them in a specific area.

The prison houses up to 345 inmates.

"I was pleased that they have taken steps to be prepared," Tomassetti said.

Valley View Home, with its own medical staff, is ready too, Tomassetti said. In the past, the county nursing home has elected to be closed to visitors because of widespread flu.

As of Oct. 8, the state Department of Health has confirmed five cases and one probable case of swine flu in Blair County. They're part of 2,929 confirmed cases, 68 probable cases and 14 deaths reported in Pennsylvania.

The county's safety committee, a group of elected officials and employees who focus on measures to make their workplace safer, has been interested in swine flu prevention measures, too.

The committee has posted information throughout the courthouse about how to identify and make an effort to prevent swine flu. It also has put up reminders about washing hands with soap, probably the most common recommendation to combat a flu virus.