Misery Has Company

Sneezing, coughing, malaise and absenteeism will continue in the workplace and classroom for at least a few more weeks because California has yet to see the peak of the cold and flu season, health officials say.

Stories of emergency rooms closed temporarily by crowding have been widely reported in recent weeks, and doctors said the respites have been brief.

“It calmed down for a couple days, long enough for us to catch our breath, but then it started again,” says Dr. Peter Anderson, head of the emergency room at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center. “Most of the problems are viral-related, and there’s not much you can do about it. It’s an airborne disease that you also pick up by touching or drinking from the same glass.”

The dry, warm winter in Southern California--aggravated by Santa Ana winds that have plagued the area since October--has helped cause a variety of respiratory ailments in young and old alike.

Schools, where children swap pencils, crayons and germs, seem to be particularly affected by the stew of illnesses.

“We’ve seen some chronic coughs, respiratory situations, [high] temperatures, nausea, a lingering cough, flu,” said Terri Boardman, health technician at the Capistrano Unified School District. “Now we have increased asthma and respiratory problems that are common when the winds are blowing.”

Anderson said influenza and respiratory ailments are turning into pneumonia in many elderly patients. State Department of Health officials estimate that 17% of hospital admissions now are pneumonia cases, compared with 10% at the same time last year.

“Many of the elderly whom we’re seeing in our emergency room have received flu shots,” Anderson said. “But flu shots are an educated guess every year. We try to guess what strain of flu we’ll be seeing the coming winter. We don’t always guess right.”

Increasingly, businesses are seeing value in offering the flu shots to their employees.

At Re/Max Premier Realty in Irvine, the virus has had little effect so far. Company officials heeded early warnings that a flu of epidemic proportions could be coming. As a result, 60 out of 100 employees signed up for flu shots offered at the office for the first time ever.

Company President Tom Baron credits the shots with foiling the spread of the virus beyond half a dozen employees. Now, he said, “We’ll do it on an annual basis.”

Plenty of businesses have seen substantial numbers of employees out sick with the flu--including businesses whose stock in trade is a sun-loving, laid-back lifestyle.

“I’ve never seen as many people sick as this past season,” said Angie McCraw, human resources manager for surfwear maker Billabong USA in Irvine. “We’ve had a lot of people out.”

Gotcha International, also in Irvine, has been hit too, but “it’s starting to ease a little bit,” says Matt Bivens, human resources manager.

The effects of illness and allergies on the area’s tourist attractions have been muted because business is slower in winter.

“I’ve had a few managers really get hit with it. One guy was out for maybe five days,” said Knott’s Berry Farm General Manager Jack Falfas. “But this being the off-season, we haven’t really been hurt. We’ve been able to cover things.”

Covering for fellow workers who have taken ill has become routine at many offices. Often, as long as they can stay standing, workers keep reporting for duty.

At Roth Staffing Cos. Inc. in Orange, the flu has hammered several of the firm’s 30 employees in the last couple of months, said marketing and communications manager Steve Brownsell.

“It’s been worse this year than last year,” he said, but it hasn’t seemed to slow down the rapidly growing company: “People come here whether they’re sick or not.”

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Staff writers H.G. Reza, Kate Folmar, E. Scott Reckard, Marc Ballon and Daryl Strickland contributed to this report.

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If You’ve Got the Flu, You’re Not Alone

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Flu season is most intense from December through March. It’s also a time when other viruses and allergies wage war. What to watch out for and how to stay well--or get well--in this trying time:

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Sources: Orange County Health Care Agency, National Center for Health Statistics, Times research