Government officials to host H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit

WASHINGTON The White House on Friday announced that Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano, Education secretary Arne Duncan and Homeland Security advisor John Brennan will host an all-day H1N1 Flu Preparedness Summit with states to further prepare the nation for the possibility of a more severe outbreak of H1N1 flu in the fall.

The Summit will be held this Thursday at the Natcher Conference Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

The H1N1 flu virus continues to circulate in this country and in at least 100 other countries around the world - especially in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is underway, the White House stated.

“Scientists and public health experts forecast that the impact of H1N1 may well worsen in the fall — when the regular flu season hits, or even earlier, when schools start to open — which is only five or six weeks away in some cases,” Sebelius said. “The goal of the Summit is to launch a national influenza campaign by bringing federal, state and local officials, emergency managers, educators and others together with the nation’s public health experts to build on and tailor states’ existing pandemic plans, share lessons learned and best practices during the spring and summer H1N1 wave, and discuss preparedness priorities.”