Hawaii Health Officials Tighten Health Care Precautions Due To Swine Flu

Hawaii is likely to step up its health care precautions after three swine flu cases were confirmed on Oahu, the Honolulu Advertiser reported on Wednesday.

Some possible measures to be discussed by health officials are:
*    Visitors to nursing homes would be restricted, or required to wear masks
*    Paramedics would be required to use alternate entrances when bringing flu patients to the hospital
*    Hospitals would set up an added layer of triage to avoid mixing flu patients with other patients.

Over 200 people from the state Health Department, Civil Defense and each county will meet to make these decisions.

"We'll probably make that decision," Toby Clairmon, director of emergency services for the Healthcare Association of Hawaii told the Honolulu Advertiser. "There's a 99 percent chance that's what we're going to do."