If your child is sick, postpone the visit. Most locations will be hosting Santa through Christmas Eve.
Insist on plenty of hand-washing, before and after the visit.
Bring plenty of tissues and hand sanitizer.
Teach your child to cough or sneeze into tissues or their sleeves, not their hands.
Jolly old St. Nicholas won’t be so jolly if he comes down with H1N1 flu.
Every year is fraught with peril for the men who suit up as Santa Claus and take America’s children on their laps and listen to holiday wishes. They must endure crying or screaming kids, children who have accidents, maybe even a few who throw up.
But this year there is an added danger lurking among the children who are sneezing or coughing: flu germs.
So what are the malls and other venues that host the Santas, or the Santas themselves, doing to stay healthy?
Rockbrook Village is hoping to avoid flu worries by having Santa visit just one day. On that day, visits will involve sleigh rides around the village — and the children will sit beside Santa, not on his lap, said Zack Daub, Rockbrook Village vice president.
Daub hopes that by being out doors and having limited contact, the chances of contagion will be kept at a minimum.
“We also have hand wipes everywhere,” he said.
Hand sanitizers, either wipes or liquid, seem to be the preventive method of choice. Several Santa locations said they have stocked up and will make the product readily available to visitors.
In Santa’s house at SouthPointe Pavilions in Lincoln, planners added a special shelf to the back of Santa’s chair to hold tissues and hand sanitizer.
Melody Just, a manager at Bass Pro Shops in Council Bluffs, said hand sanitizer is spread throughout the store’s Santa’s Wonderland. Santa will be using it, too, she said.
Likewise, the Durham Museum has sanitizer in numerous places for all visitors, and it will be there for St. Nick and all the children who meet him. The same is true of the Bookworm in Countryside Village, one of the stores where Santa will put in appearances on Sundays.
The Santas, in fact, may be the ones who need to worry about catching the flu. Many of the children will have had flu shots, since youngsters were among the first in line for H1N1 vaccine.
Two national organizations that represent Santas are worried about their members. The Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas is urging Santas to take vitamins and use hand sanitizer.
Santa America asked that its Santas — like health care workers or people who work with children at day care centers or nurseries — designated a priority group for the H1N1 flu vaccine. That hasn’t happened, but the group tells its members to wash their Santa suits daily instead of weekly and not to wear gloves so they can wash or sanitize their hands.
Dan Perina of Omaha, who hires himself out as a Santa every year, said he has several jobs lined up this year, so is taking lots of vitamins and will carry his own sanitizer. He also has germ-killing spray to use on his costume in between dry-cleanings.
He draws the line at some precautions, though.
“Santa wearing a mask won’t look very good,” he said.
And he said he wouldn’t refuse to talk to any child, even one with sniffles. “However, our visit will be quick if the child seems sick,” he said.
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Contact the writer:
444-1067, carol.bicak@owh.com
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