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What does a "Hands On" museum do to prevent the flu?

• Published October 20, 2009

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With all the talk about washing hands, coughing into sleeves and taking other steps to avoid H1N1, formerly known as "swine flu," I wondered how the Hands on Children's Museum was taking precautions to avoid spreading germs.

Hannah Steinweg, development manager of the HOCM, said flu season or not, the museum has a strict schedule for cleaning its displays.

"Basically, we treat every day as flu season. We're constantly cleaning and santizing," she said.

She said children are now being instructed to sneeze into the crook of their elbow instead of their hands to avoid spreading germs to common surfaces and children are taught to wash their hands often.

The museum also plans to put reminders in the bathrooms for kids to sing the song "Happy Birthday" twice while washing their hands --- which is the least amount of time it takes for soapy hands to get disinfected, Steinweg said. Staff members will also be encouraged to get flu shots, she said.

Not being a near a sink won't be a reason to not sanitize hands, she said.

"We have Purell"--- a brand name waterless hand sanitizer --- "all over the museum," she said.

The museum has posted information about its flu-related policies on its Web site.

Staff members also talk to parents if a visiting child doesn't seem well, she said.

H1N1 is a new influenza virus to the human population, which means that most people don't have a existing immunity to it. That means that for most people, H1N1 is a type of flu that is more easily caught and spread.

That doesn't mean that it would be more dangerous than the regular flu, but because more people are expected to catch it, epidemiologists believe that more people will suffer health complications.

Local schools are seeing an increased number of kids out with flu symptoms, but people are no longer tested for H1N1 unless they are hospitalized.

-- Venice Buhain, Olympian education reporter