CTV News has learned that Quebec's health department is planning to post new H1N1 guidelines on its web site related to the summer-camp season.
The news comes just as the World Health Organization issued a pandemic alert related to the virus.
The guidelines are familiar: keep sick children home and engage in frequent hand-washing and good hygiene. Quebec will also post specific recommendations tailored to the camp environment.
The province is issuing the camp guidelines after Dr. Earl Rubin, a Montreal camp doctor, sent a letter to the province last month requesting specific directives.
Meeting
Meanwhile, several camp directors met with doctors, including Rubin, to devise their own strategies on Thursday evening at the Camp Kinneret office in Cote St. Luc.
Topics up for discussion included whether parents pack hand sanitizers for their kids, and which strategies will be effective to help keep a virus at bay.
There are always viruses like gastro circulating at camps - but influenza at this time of year is highly unusual.
Parents will be told to prepare to take the children home if they get sick and staff will be trained to ensure that no matter what happens, the camps will be prepared.
Schools
In the meantime, some schools in Montreal have been hard hit by the outbreak and local doctors and hospitals are becoming overwhelmed.
Doctors caution people that the flu remains mild, most people are not hospitalized and they make full recoveries within days.
