Metro News Release

For immediate release: September 30, 2009

Metro wants riders to stay healthy during flu season

Public announcements and posters remind riders to take basic precautions

Metro wants its 1 million-plus daily passengers to stay healthy during the flu season and throughout the year, and is in the midst of an educational campaign that includes advice to Metro riders and employees about how they can protect themselves, their families and fellow riders from catching or spreading the flu.

Through station announcements, posters and a new Web page, Metro riders are urged to take basic precautions to protect themselves and their fellow riders, including frequent hand washing, covering the mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, or coughing or sneezing into the upper sleeve, not hands when a tissue is not available, and avoid touching the eyes, nose and mouth. To keep their hands clean while traveling, riders should carry tissues, waterless hand-sanitizing gels or disinfecting wipes.

Posters, in English and Spanish, are being placed on Metrobuses and Metrorail trains, and at rail station entrances. The “Take steps to avoid the flu” poster describes flu symptoms and talks about steps individuals can take to help prevent catching the flu, such as frequent hand washing. It also reminds riders who do happen to have the flu to stay home from work or school to minimize opportunities of spreading the flu.

Using good personal hygiene can reduce everyone’s risk of catching diseases. Good health habits include washing your hands often, covering your mouth and nose with a tissue or your elbow when coughing or sneezing, avoiding close contact with those who are ill and staying home when you are sick,” said Metro Chief Safety Officer Alexa Dupigny-Samuels.

A special Web page dedicated to Metro’s efforts to prepare for flu season (http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/flu/) has been developed. It contains questions and answers about flu season preparations, tips on staying healthy, videos and photographs showing how Metro is cleaning its fleet of vehicles, and links to national and local health agencies. See video of cleaning rail cars.

In addition, public announcements reminding riders about basic precautionary steps to stay healthy such as covering coughs are being played regularly in the system.

To keep its fleet of vehicles and stations clean, Metro is using an environmentally friendly disinfectant cleaner to wipe down surfaces throughout the Metro system to help keep riders and employees from catching the flu. Throughout the flu season, the environmentally friendly disinfectant is used to clean and disinfect “touch-surfaces” in the Metro system, such as fareboxes, seats, poles, entrances gates and fare card machines. Metrobuses, Metrorail trains and MetroAccess vehicles undergo weekly cleaning with the disinfectant. In addition, fare machines, fare gate targets and farecard slots in rail stations are wiped down with the special disinfectant daily.

The following resources have more information about the H1N1 flu:
o Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
o 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636), TTY (888) 232-6348; cdcinfo@cdc.gov
o CDC on Twitter – http://twitter.com/cdcemergency
o U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – www.flu.gov
o World Health Organization (WHO) – http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
o Influenza activity in Virginia – http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/Epidemiology/Surveillance/Influenza/index.htm
o Influenza fact sheet Virginia Department of Health (VDH)
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/Epidemiology/factsheets/Influenza.htm
o VDH “Stay at Home” Toolkit for Influenza – http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/flu/FluToolkit/StayAtHomeToolkit.pdf
o Clean Hands Saves Lives – http://www.cdc.gov/cleanhands/
o Make a Plan – http://www.makeaplan.org
o Swine Flu Widget (for your Web site/blog, etc.) – http://www.hhs.gov/web/library/hhsfluwidgets.html
o District of Columbia Department of Health – http://www.flu.dc.gov
o Maryland Department of Health – http://www.dhmh.state.md.us/

Media contact for this news release: Cathy Asato or Lisa Farbstein at 202-962-1051.
For all other inquiries, please call customer service at 202-637-7000.

News release issued at 2:05 pm, September 30, 2009.