On Monday, May 4, we received word from the Long Beach Health Department that one of the five confirmed cases of swine flu (H1N1) in the City of Long Beach is an LBCC student. Dr. Helene Calvet, City Health Officer, mentioned that three of the four newly confirmed cases are school-aged individuals and that, at this time, there are no school closures in Long Beach.

The student has reported no recent travel to Mexico, nor had any known contacts with ill individuals who have had recent travel to Mexico. The Health Department has advised the individual to stay home for at least seven days. The student is recovering and is not hospitalized.

I want to assure you that we are monitoring the situation closely and are increasing our surveillance of any other possible cases of the influenza on our campuses. We continue to work closely with the Long Beach Health Department and other public health agencies to assure a proactive response.

LBCC continues an aggressive outreach program of informing and educating faculty, staff and students about swine flu. Members of our Student Health Services have information tables set up on both campuses with information on staying healthy and preventing the spread of infections. Safety flyers are posted on both campuses and at our Child Development Centers. Our homepage (www.LBCC.edu) continues to post any important news and instructions for the college community, and a flu hotline has been established to help answer any questions or concerns you might have.

In the meantime, we continue to urge every member of our community to practice common sense measures to stay healthy and help prevent the spread of infections. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) suggests you do the following to stay healthy:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people. Influenza is thought to spread mainly person-to-person through coughing or sneezing of infected people.
• If you get sick, the CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

More information from the CDC is available at: www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Swine Flu Hotline at (562) 938-4840.

If you are experiencing flu-like symptoms, please contact Student Health Services at either (562) 938-4210 or (562) 938-3992. Student Health Services on both campuses are open from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm.

Thank you for taking time to read this message. I encourage you to share it with students and other members of the campus community. We will keep you informed of other developments as events warrant.

Thank you for helping to keep our community safe.