Election officials take steps to avoid spread of H1N1

RICHMOND

Concerns about swine flu have added at least one more burden to already harried officials prepping for Election Day.

Voters heading to the polls can expect to see hand sanitizer available and might notice some differences in the way precincts are set up. It's all aimed at reducing the transfer of germs during a peak period of seasonal illness, officials said.

National and state election officials are urging to voters to take the same precautions they have been advising since the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza strain in the spring.

"For voters when they go out, it's the same thing that they would do when they go to the grocery store," said Dr. Diane Helentjaris of the Virginia Health Department. "While you're out in the public, you want to keep your hands away from your face - that means your eyes, your nose and your mouth - because bacteria can get into your body that way."

Helentjaris also encouraged common-sense measures like frequent hand-washing and covering your mouth when you cough.

Earlier this month, the federal Election Assistance Commission asked states to develop and share contingency plans aimed at minimizing the potential for passing infection among voters and poll workers.

As of Thursday, only Virginia and Wisconsin had filed a set of recommendations with the commission.

Wisconsin officials have suggested that election workers posts signs at polling places reminding voters about the flu pandemic, spacing voters 3 feet apart in line at the polls, and stocking supplies of sanitizer, latex gloves and medical masks, among other ideas.

Virginia's plan notes that some localities are providing implements such as cotton swabs and disposable coffee stirrers so people's fingers don't have to make contact with touch-screen voting machines. And some have enlisted backup poll workers to be on standby if someone gets sick.

"This is something we've been working on since the summer," said Virginia's top election official, Nancy Rodrigues, who noted that more than 2,000 bottles of sanitizing gel have been shipped to all 134 localities across Virginia.

All that preparation, said Election Assistance Commission chairwoman Gineen Beach, is to ensure that concerns about flu aren't a "deterrent to voting."

The region that includes Hampton Roads reported one of the highest rates of people with flulike illnesses visiting emergency rooms and urgent care centers in the state last week, reaching almost 15 percent of all patients - three times the peak of the previous flu season.

The state had a rate of about 14 percent. The rates more than doubled during the past two weeks both statewide and in Hampton Roads. Twelve Virginia deaths this year have been associated with swine flu.

Pilot writer Elizabeth Simpson contributed to this report.

Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com