With students returning to school, a few questions related to the H1N1 virus (commonly referred to as "swine flu") have surfaced. Please know that Unit 5 staff, including teachers, nurses, custodians, and administrators, are taking proactive steps to help maintain safe and healthy schools for our students and staff.
Listed below are recommended school responses for the 2009-2010 school year from the Center for Disease Control.
■Stay home when sick: Those with flu-like illness should stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medicines. They should stay home even if they are using antiviral drugs.
■Separate ill students and staff: Students and staff who appear to have flu-like illness should be sent to a room separate from others until they can be sent home.
■Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette: The new recommendations emphasize the importance of the basic foundations of influenza prevention: stay home when sick, wash hands frequently with soap and water when possible, and cover noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (or a shirt sleeve or elbow if no tissue is available).
■Routine cleaning: School staff should routinely clean areas that students and staff touch often with the cleaners they typically use. Special cleaning with bleach and other non-detergent-based cleaners is not necessary.
■Early treatment of high-risk students and staff: People at high risk for influenza complications who become ill with influenza-like illness should speak with their health care provider as soon as possible. Early treatment with antiviral medications is very important for people at high risk because it can prevent hospitalizations and deaths. People at high risk include those who are pregnant, have asthma or diabetes, have compromised immune systems, or have neuromuscular diseases.
■Consideration of selective school dismissal: Although there are not many schools where all or most students are at high risk (for example, schools for medically fragile children or for pregnant students) a community might decide to dismiss such a school to better protect these high-risk students.
If at some point this year there should be a dramatic increase in cases of the flu, we will take additional steps at Prairieland. For the most up to date information, I encourage you to check out the federal government's website at www.flu.gov.
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2 comments:
I heard on a news report that because of the late testing of the Vaccine for the Swine Flu virus, there may be a recommendation that the vaccine be administered at the schools. Is there still talk of this? Has Unit 5 discussed this possibility?
Yes, the CDC has shared this as a POSSIBILITY - H1N1 vaccinations to be offered at individual school buildings at some point if the situation warranted it. However, at this time we are not to that point. Unit 5 continues to work with school nurses and the Health Department to plan for a time when the number of flu cases becomes seriously elevated.
If we were to offer vaccinations at Prairieland at some point, I believe parents would always have the right to "opt out" for their child. But as I said earlier, there is no plan currently to offer vaccinations at school - it's just something being discussed between the CDC and health departments.
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