Albertans overload health helpline with swine flu calls

As calls to Alberta's health helpline surged, the chief medical officer of health assured the public that the province is prepared if cases of swine flu begin to surface.

"Our system is ready," said the province's top health official, Dr. André Corriveau, at a news conference on Monday. "We have spent a lot of time over the last few days working with our medical officers of health and with the front-line people in the health care system, with our laboratories, to make sure our protocols have been updated."

There are plans to have the provincial laboratory ready to start diagnosing swine flu by the end of the week. Currently, the national lab in Winnipeg is the only place in Canada that can make a positive confirmation of the illness. 

Although Alberta has no confirmed cases of the illness, Corriveau put the provincial health system on alert Sunday.

Calls to the province's Health Link telephone line have increased over the past few days, but most are from people looking for information and not from Albertans who think they have the illness, said Corriveau. The province plans to add more staff to deal with the increased call volumes, he added.

'Simple precautions' urged against swine flu

Corriveau is asking Albertans to take simple precautions against the influenza virus, such as not touching their eyes, nose or mouth after touching door handles and other surfaces, as well as covering their mouth with a sleeve when coughing or sneezing. People who become ill should stay home from work and avoid public places, he added.

"If you are sick ... stay home," Corriveau said. "Call for advice if you're not sure. Take care of yourself.  Avoid spreading it.  Wash your hands often. Sneeze in your sleeve. All the usual measures to minimize the spread of influenza are still the most appropriate response at this point to this new virus."

Anyone who has developed a fever or cough and has just returned or has had contact with someone who just got back from Mexico or the southern U.S. is asked to call Health Link for advice before visiting a doctor's office, medical centre or emergency room, he said.

Canadian health officials have confirmed six "relatively mild" cases of human swine influenza in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, but also warned more cases are likely in the near future.

Nurses at Calgary airport

The Public Health Agency of Canada has stationed nurses at the Calgary airport, along with eight other major Canadian airports. Customs officers, who have been trained by the agency to spot flu symptoms among passengers entering Canada, will send those with fever, chills, a severe cough or respiratory distress to a quarantine nurse.

One passenger at the Calgary airport on the weekend told CBC News she was glad to be home from a 10-day vacation in Mexico.

"Everybody is really afraid, because it is all over the news in Mexico. People dying, people trying to keep extra precautions. Because it's not the cleanest country to begin with, so it's scary," said Terri Pozniak, who otherwise enjoyed her trip.

Mexican citizen Graceiela Mata and her husband arrived at the Calgary airport en route to Banff and were trying to not let the situation back home dampen their honeymoon plans. "We're going back six days from now and we don't know how big it is going to be. We are worried because we have family and friends in Mexico City where the sickest people are right now," she said.

Robert Palmer, a WestJet spokesman, said Monday the Calgary-based airline will hand out complimentary breathing masks and hand sanitizer to all of its Mexico-bound passengers. The company is also looking at scrubbing down every one of its passenger jets leaving or landing in Mexico.

Worried vacation buyers call travel agents

U.S. and Canadian airlines are allowing customers who've booked trips to Mexico to modify their travel plans because of the outbreak of swine flu there.

Air Canada said Sunday it will allow travellers to make changes to their bookings for travel to and from Mexico City without paying penalty fees beginning Sunday until April 30. WestJet issued a similar travel advisory for its customers and extended the deadline to make changes to May 8.

'People who are looking to book are now looking at other areas, which definitely is going to hit Mexico tourism very hard,' —Lesley Keyter, travel agent

That flexibility hasn't been extended to travellers who booked package vacations, said Lesley Keyter, owner of the Travel Lady Agency in Calgary.

She said people interested in all-inclusive vacations are avoiding Mexico. "People who are looking to book are now looking at other areas, which definitely is going to hit Mexico tourism very hard," Keyter said.

On Monday afternoon, a last minute, all-inclusive one-week vacation at a five-star resort in Puerto Vallarta leaving from Calgary on Saturday was going for as low as $577 on one national travel agency's website.

Kim Paterson, who works at the Travel Cuts located at the University of Calgary Student Centre, said she has fielded dozens of calls from students and parents worried about upcoming trips to Mexico, mainly graduation trips to all-inclusives in Cancun. 

"We can't give them their money back," she said. Her office is encouraging travellers to Mexico to continue on with their plans but take the necessary precautions, especially if travelling to Mexico City.