The first day of school is right around the corner for most American school children, and while parents are stocking up on pencils, glue and notebooks, the government is concentrating on potential swine flu outbreaks.
Yesterday government health officials issued new recommendations regarding swine flu and school closings. The good news: Most schools should be able to stay open even if swine flu outbreaks occur this fall. The bad news: The vaccine against the H1N1 virus won’t be ready until October at the earliest.
So what does this mean for your student?
According to health officials, decisions about whether to close schools should an outbreak occur will be made locally with the goal of “minimizing social disruption and safety risks to children.” Basically, the new regulation means there’s a good chance your child’s school will not close if a single student is diagnosed with swine flu.
The United States has 130,000 schools, 55 million students and 7 million staff members. When an entire school closes parents have to stay home or find childcare, which some cannot afford. What’s more, if a parent is employed as a health care worker and he is forced to remain home with his child during a swine flu outbreak because of school closings, it may impact coverage at local hospitals or clinics.
Health officials did note that school closings might be necessary if a large number of students or staff became infected and the school could not function, or if parents persisted in sending sick children to school.
In regards to the vaccination, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that children and adults will likely need two shots of the new vaccine, in addition to one shot for seasonal flu. Sebelius also noted that children and young people ages 6 months to 24 years are to be given priority for the H1N1 vaccine, and vaccination clinics may be set up in some schools.
Other recommendations made at yesterday’s announcement include:
School staff members and students infected with the swine flu should stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever. This differs from earlier guidelines, which advised staying home for seven days.
Schools are also urged to set up a separate room where sick students and can wait until a parent picks them up. Also, sick students should be given masks to wear, and so should the people looking after them.
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