There are some “rules” we remember being repeated so often in childhood, we may, as adults, start to ignore them. And that can hurt all of us.

The command from Mom to look both ways before crossing the street still stands. But now, “Wash your hands” and “Cover your mouth when you cough” may be just as important.

The H1N1 virus (formerly known as swine flu) has hit the Ottumwa area. There are ways to avoid it, and keep from spreading it to too many of our co-workers, classmates and friends.

Those old rules we learned as kids, seemingly too simple to stop the spread of a serious illness, really do work, health officials say. Lynelle Diers, director of Wapello County’s Department of Public Health, and Jackie Greenfield, a nurse who helps care for nearly 5,000 students at Indian Hills Community College, both recommend everyone in Wapello County brings back some childhood rules.

• Correctly cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, which is to say, don’t cough into your hands. Cover your mouth with your forearm, the crook of your elbow or a tissue that you immediately toss in the trash.

• The Centers for Disease Control (the CDC) suggests not touching your eyes, nose or mouth during the day without first washing your hands: Because if someone has coughed into their hand, then touched a surface, the virus is sitting there, waiting. If someone coughed or sneezed a few feet from a surface, the virus could also land there. Touching that surface and later your eyes, nose or mouth is one way to become infected with a flu virus.

• The CDC recommends that people with 2009 H1N1 flu or its symptoms avoid contact with others as much as possible. If you are sick, the CDC recommends that you stay home until, without fever-reducing medicine (aspirin and other pain relievers, for example), your fever is gone for 24 hours. Avoid work, school or any place where the public gathers. Just stay away from others as much as possible.

The Courier is recommending taking the threat of this dangerous flu strain seriously, but not allowing that threat of flu shackle residents. The CDC has a web site with lots of good, solid information. And while the H1N1 virus can be fatal, they agree it is not something to panic over. Knowing the facts can help. For example:

• The CDC says you cannot get infected with the H1N1 virus from eating pork or pork products. The name “swine flu” was inaccurate, though some people are still using it. The novel H1N1 2009 Flu Virus is more accurate.

• If you are well but have an infected family member, you can still go to work.

• The Centers for Disease Control tracks a category called Deaths from Flu and Pneumonia. So far, those deaths are still below average for the year.

• Not everyone who contracts H1N1 will become sick enough to even be hospitalized. In fact, the CDC says the majority of sufferers will recover with no need for medical treatment.

• It’s important to note that 70 percent of the people who have become really sick from H1N1 already had one or more medical conditions requiring medical attention, like pregnancy, diabetes, heart disease, asthma or kidney disease.

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