If you live or work in areas where cases of H1N1 flu have been reported and become ill with influenza-like symptoms, health experts recommend the following precautions.

If you experience flu-like symptoms including fever, cough, headache, muscle and joint pain, sore throat, runny nose, vomiting or diarrhea, stay at home and avoid contact with other people as much as possible to prevent spreading your illness to others. Make sure you follow your company sick day protocols (e.g., report your absence to your manager). 

Staying at home means that you should not leave your home except to seek medical care. This means avoiding normal activities, including work, school, travel, shopping, social events, and public gatherings

Contact your healthcare provider if you are worried about your symptoms. If possible, contact your healthcare provider by telephone or other remote means before seeking care at a clinic, physician’s office, or hospital so you can minimize your contact with others. 

However, the following emergency warning signs require that you go directly to an emergency room or urgent care centre:

In children:	In adults:
Fast breathing or trouble breathing	Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
Bluish skin color	Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
Not drinking enough fluids	Sudden dizziness
Not waking up or not interacting	Confusion
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held	Severe or persistent vomiting
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Fever with a rash

To prevent spreading the illness to your family members or others, follow good health and hygiene practices like proper hand washing, social distancing, using alcohol based disinfectant on surfaces that you have touched, sneezing into your sleeve, etc.

© 2024 LifeWorks (Canada) Ltd. Your program may not include all services described on this website, please refer to your benefit material for more information. For immediate assistance, call 1.844.880.9137.