Rankin Inlet - Rankin Inlet's health care staff are developing a plan to deal with a second wave of the H1N1 virus, expected to hit the Kivalliq region this fall, according to Linda Sawyers, supervisor of community health services.

At a hamlet council meeting held at the end of June, Sawyers was not permitted to say which communities had cases of the virus, but revealed the number of people with the flu has declined. However, she added, the Kivalliq region needs to be prepared for a second outbreak.

"Rankin has gone through the first wave, we're falling off the peak," Sawyers told councillors. "We have to work to the fall, nobody can predict the future, but we have to plan for the future for what might potentially be a very bad virus."

"Historically, in the spring, a new virus presents itself and goes around and people recover and over the summer it dies down a bit," she said. "But, it also will come back with a vengeance in the fall."

She said the plan to deal with the second outbreak could include spreading out or halting community events to help to stop the spread of the flu.

"So hand sanitizers everywhere, encouraging healthy practices and maybe putting some controls in place in the fall if we start to see increasing numbers of influenza," she said. "Stop some of the community events or spread them out a bit."

Sawyer said the number of community events at the beginning of the outbreak, including the governor general's visit, could have been a factor in the virus' quick spread through the community.

Sawyers added it was important people keep in mind that the H1N1 virus is simply a more hard-hitting version of the flu.

"I'd like to normalize influenza," she said. "It's like having a cold, it just happens to be a more aggressive virus right now."

She said people who have already had the virus could develop some immunity and not become as ill when the virus returns.

When asked by council why the health department was not releasing the names of the communities where people are infected with the illness, Sawyers said the choice was made by health officials in Iqaluit.

"The decision was made by the CMOH (chief medical officer of health) in Iqaluit, Dr. Sobol and the health ministry, it was all made in Iqaluit and dictated to us," she said. "The feeling was that there would be stigmatization and they were afraid the flights wouldn't come in ... that's the only explanation I can give you because that's the explanation given to me."

Sawyers said she would give another presentation to the hamlet council in the fall to discuss the pandemic strategy.