UPDATE ON H1N1 VIRUS

Speaking after a statement in the Scottish Parliament by Cabinet Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, Wendy Alexander said:
“As of yesterday there were 311 confirmed cases across 7 health boards in Scotland and 522 possible cases. In Scotland the highest numbers of cases confirmed so far are within the 15-24 year age range. There has only been 1 reported case over the age of 65 years. It is still the case that the vast majority of people contracting the virus are experiencing relatively mild symptoms.”
According to the Cabinet Secretary – the current approach of tracing and offering anti-virals to all close contacts becomes less effective.
In certain areas – like Paisley the Scottish Government have decided routine laboratory testing will stop, and anti-virals will not be given to whole classes or whole year groups.
Wendy Alexander quizzed the Cabinet Secretary on this change of approach, she said:

“If policy changes people need to understand why changes are being made. People need more information, reassurance and advice. I pressed in Parliament for Paisley people to be better ‘kept in touch’ with how they best keep themselves and their families safe.”
Wendy had another proposal for the Scottish Government, she said:
“Our experience here in Paisley tells us that ‘children are the spreaders’ of this virus. We need a schools campaign to get the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ message into every Scottish classroom as soon as possible. But you can only ‘catch it’ with a hanky. If we can have water fountains in every school – is it not time to have hankies in every classroom? It may be impossible to stop this virus but there is more we can do to stop its spread.”
“I am delighted that the Health Secretary promised to given urgent and serious consideration to my proposals to keep our kids free from this virus.”
“I would like to thank all local staff working in front line services – including nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers and social care staff – for all their efforts in tracing, treating and caring for those affected by this outbreak.”