Virus mobilized everyone from health care workers to school administrators

Though the fear of H1N1 has subsided to a great degree, much of 2009 was full of unknowns when it came to the swine flu.

The virus started in the spring in Mexico and spread into the United States, eventually reaching Tooele County. It hit full force in the fall, when the Tooele County Health Department sprung into action with a plan for fighting H1N1 and dispensing vaccinations to the community. The department first offered vaccine to priority groups, though the vaccine was later made available to the general public.

The health department was inundated with calls from people wanting information about getting vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. The department even hired additional staff to handle incoming calls. Demand for the limited supply of H1N1 vaccine was also evident with long lines at mass clinics at the Tooele County Health Department. At some of the first clinics, people started lining up at midnight the night before the clinic.

“We understand there are a lot of individuals sick and understand people feel the need for the vaccine,” said Sherrie Ahlstrom, nursing director at the health department, in October. “We wish we could give it to everyone now but we are limited to what we can get and we’re trying to do our best to get it out as fast as we can. Nationally the vaccine is not being manufactured very quickly.”

Later, the vaccine was distributed via by-appointment-only clinics.

“It seems with the number of doses we’re able to give on a weekly basis that this is an effective route to administer all the doses we have available,” said Bucky Whitehouse, public information officer with the county health department.

Local physicians were also inundated with sick patients.

In October, family practitioner Dr. Sergio Abarca said his office had seen a huge spike in patients coming in with flu-like symptoms.

“We went from seeing probably about 70 patients a day to 120 patients a day just overnight,” he said.

Hand sanitizer dispensers were put into schools, and proper hygiene etiquette was taught to students in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.

Nearly half the students at Tooele High School missed class on Oct. 16, though how many of those students were absent because of H1N1 or the more common flu was unknown. Though school was never canceled, a THS football game was when too many members of the team became ill.

“Forty-eight percent of students missed one or more classes for whatever reason Friday. We don’t know if they went deer hunting, don’t know if they had the flu, or if they just skipped class,” said Ken Luke, assistant superintendent of the Tooele County School District, at the time. “You know, a lot of people are thinking it’s all H1N1, but there’s a lot of other sickness out there, so we don’t know.”

A subsequent sampling of five students in Tooele County who had flu-like symptoms found all were H1N1 positive.

Bucky Whitehouse, public information officer for the health department, said pandemics usually come in three waves.

“Where we’re at with the pandemic is we’re at the bottom of our second wave,” he said. “We’re still looking at the third wave being at some point in January and running through February, so we want to make sure people don’t take it for granted and think that the danger is gone.”

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com