Make Mine a Double – When It Comes to Swine Flu Two Ounces of Prevention May Be Worth a Pound of Cure

With U.S. health officials predicting that up to forty-percent of Americans may become infected with the Swine Flu over the next two years , ACU Air plans to pay for swine flu shots for its employees and their school age children. This will serve the dual purpose of reducing absenteeism during the flu season and will prevent any of our service technicians from unknowingly carrying the virus into customers’ homes.

Immunization against the H1N1 cocktail of human, avian, and pig influenza strains may require two vaccinations. Consequently, ACU Air employees are preparing to roll up their sleeves not once but twice , just as soon as the vaccine hits the streets – most likely sometime in October. The dire forty-percent prediction recently quoted in front page headlines throughout the United States is based on a worse case scenario in which the vaccine is either not ready in time or in which a national vaccine campaign proves unsuccessful. We encourage other employers to pay for their employees’ and their employees’ children’s vaccines so that the forty-percent prediction does not become reality.

Some people have been wondering whether the mechanical air cleaners and UV disinfectant systems ACU Air sells and installs will help to protect their homes and families against H1N1. Not really. The flu virus is spread primarily through close contact with an infected person, especially when that person coughs or sneezes. You can also pick it up by touching an object that has the flu virus on it and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. Your best line of defense is to keep your distance from people you know to be infected and to engage in frequent, good old-fashioned hand washing. While it is possible that the virus may spread through an air conditioning system that frequently recycles air in a crowded, confined space (such as the cabin of a plane), the virus is unlikely to survive the journey and be spread through your residential air conditioning and heating system.

We recommend mechanical air cleaners and UV disinfectant systems for removing airborne allergens and for killing mold spores, rather than to halt the spread of infectious diseases in the home. Save your money and spend it on liquid hand soap and hand sanitizers and, of course, the H1N1 vaccine as soon as it becomes available.