The Vanguard has learned that the H1N1 case at Holmes Junior High is definitely NEGATIVE. Therefore, the County Health Officer has given the district permission to re-open Holmes and resume normal activities.
Below is a letter sent out by the district.
Dear Parents, Staff, and Community Members:
Early this morning, Dr. Joe Iser, Yolo County Health Officer, notified us that the probable case of H1N1 at Holmes Junior High is definitely negative. He has, therefore, given permission for Holmes to be open and activities districtwide to resume with the inclusion of Holmes students. This good news means that our students may resume their academics and the many activities planned for Holmes Junior High and for Holmes students in districtwide activities can be held as planned.
Please be assured that we will continue to bring pertinent information to our community as quickly as we can using all forms of communication to keep parents and guardians abreast of this development. Both site and district leadership will be working throughout the day to plan for a regular instructional day at every school on Monday morning.
We understand that some Holmes families may have made arrangements for childcare/supervision that may be difficult to re-arrange before Monday morning. We will extend consideration for any absences related to this rapid turn of events.
To every member of the community, we thank you for the outpouring of support and understanding as we received new information and directives. The safety of our students is paramount and your cooperation in our efforts has been deeply appreciated by the district and by our pubic health partners.
Due to protocols established between the California Department of Education and the county health departments statewide, local school districts are subject to last minute changes and daily practices, and again we appreciate your patience throughout this process.
Please refer to the relevant information below.
Information for Holmes Parents
The latest information, as of Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:00 am PDT, applies:
• Holmes Junior High School is open and students should plan to attend school as usual on Monday, May 4, at the approval of the Yolo County Health Department.
• All Holmes students may participate in or attend any District sponsored activities (i.e. All-City Band, All-City Orchestra, Chorus, Athletics, etc.)Information for Holmes Staff (Certificated and Classified)
The latest information, as of Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:00 am PDT, applies:
• Staff is expected to report to their work site on Monday, May 4, 2009.
• There will be a mandatory staff meeting beginning 20 minutes before the first bell.Information for all District Staff
The latest information, as of Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:00 am PDT, applies:
• Staff is expected to report to their work site on Monday, May 4, 2009.
• There will be a mandatory staff meeting beginning 20 minutes before the first bell.Information for Community Members
The latest information, as of Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:00 am PDT, applies:
• Holmes Junior High School is open and students should plan to attend school as usual on Monday, May 4, at the approval of the Yolo County Health Department.
• All district schools will be open without restrictions.This concludes the information update threads about the recent H1N1 situation at Holmes Junior High School.
UPDATE AT 1:45 PM
This is the press release from the county health director.
For Immediate Release:
Date: May 3, 2009
Contact: Dr. Joseph Iser Health Officer/Director
Phone: (530) 666-8645Final Report Announced on Probable H1N1 Influenza Cases in Yolo County
Two Cases Reclassified as Human InfluenzaWoodland, CA—Yolo County health officials received a report from the Sacramento Public Health Laboratory late last night that the two probable H1N1 cases had been reclassified as human influenza A instead of the novel virus.
“This is good news for the two individuals who have been ill,” stated Dr. Joseph Iser, Yolo County Health Officer, “and I have approved Holmes being open for student attendance as early as tomorrow.”
The Yolo County Health Department has worked closely with the Davis Joint Unified School District who has temporarily closed Holmes Junior High School because of one of the probable cases.
“With a novel virus, we want to prevent the transmission as quickly as possible. Closing a school early with a possible case is important in making this happen,” stated Dr. Iser. “We understand the impact a closure has on the students and families and appreciate their support and the support of the District to keep our children healthy.”
Nationwide health officials expect to continue to see more cases of H1N1 influenza. The symptoms of H1N1 influenza are similar to symptoms of regular seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have also reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with the human H1N1 flu.
People experiencing more than mild flu-like symptoms, particularly individuals who have recently traveled to Mexico, should call their health care provider for advice. Anyone experiencing severe symptoms, such as trouble breathing, should seek medical care immediately.
Flu is generally spread by direct contact with germs from an infected person, from either uncovered coughs or sneezes or by touching something the infected person has handled. So prevention is extremely important.
“It is important for people to continue to take common sense steps to protect themselves from spreading disease,” adds Dr. Iser. “Washing your hands frequently, sneezing and coughing into a tissue or your sleeve, and staying home when you are sick are important steps individuals can take to stop the spread of disease.”
Continue to log onto the Vanguard for further information when it becomes available.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
H-Y-S-T-E-R-I-A!
The decision to close Holmes never made any sense ([url]http://www.nj.com/parenting/maria_andreu/index.ssf/2009/04/swine_flu_hysteria_are_parents.html[/url]), regardless of who made it ([url]http://www.djusd.net/superintendent[/url]). Hopefully, our public officials will use scientific reasoning the next time they consider doing something so extreme, again. It makes perfect sense to close a school if there is a widespread outbreak or if there is grave danger to the students by limited exposure. In this case, closure was never warranted.
I disagree with you. First, our school district acted as it needed to. We can question the health department’s decision, but I think the overriding concern was halting the spread particularly when we did not know the severity of the illness. At worst this is a trial run for how to respond to a more serious threat in the future. We can evaluate what has worked and what has not worked.
Anonymous:
I don’t agree with you. I believe that in view of the type of virus and the associated potential dangers, it was prudent to close Holmes TO PREVENT a widespread outbreak.
“I believe that in view of the type of virus and the associated potential dangers”
What does potential dangers mean? Shouldn’t we really be talking about likely dangers? Reasonably likely dangers?
It is actually about 1,000 times more dangerous, in all likelihood, for a student at Holmes to die riding his bicycle to school on any given day than it would be for him to catch the swine flu. Does that mean, given the “potential dangers” of riding bicycles, we should prohibit that activity?
The very definition of hysteria is reacting irrationally to a perceived threat and conflating potential dangers with actual dangers. That is what the people who made this decision to close Holmes did. The decision was not made scientifically. It was made because there are a lot of people (perhaps other parents, I don’t know) who don’t understand risk.
Imagine if the media reported every day during regular flu season all of the deaths caused by the flu in the United States. About 400 Americans die every day from the flu for about 3 months each year. That’s 2,800 dead a week for 13 weeks. Such reporting would bring on mass hysteria. People would wrongly conclude, “in view of the type of virus and the associated potential dangers” we should shut down the schools. Only an ignoramous would say “we should shut down Holmes every year.” Yet the regular flu is more dangerous to junior high kids than the swine flu is and thankfully we don’t get hysterical about it.
St. Louis closed its schools and curtained public gatherings in 1918 flu Philadelphia did not.
St Louis had many fewer deaths: Slowing the spread made a dramatic difference.
Again, the term “Epidemic” means how far a disease has spread..not its mortality rate once you get it. The term epidemic is now being used to describe wide spread Obesity.
We don’t this flu’s mortality rate.
For an interesting article on rational for school closings see:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/2/727192/-H1N1:-Why-Do-Schools-Close,-And-When-Do-They-Open
[url][/url][url][/url][url][/url]
“The very definition of hysteria is reacting irrationally to a perceived threat and conflating potential dangers with actual dangers. That is what the people who made this decision to close Holmes did. The decision was not made scientifically. It was made because there are a lot of people (perhaps other parents, I don’t know) who don’t understand risk.”
And, in agreement with another poster somewhere here, hysteria describes your reaction perfectly — an irrational reaction to the perceived threat of closing Holmes.
If you are an epidemiologist, or have some expertise in the spread of diseases, then tell us who you are and establish your credentials. If not, then I say you have no basis for judging whether this was a prudent decision or not.
The “regular” flu does and has killed lots of people. However, the difference between the H1N1 flu and the regular Influenza is that the N1H1 flu is affecting more than just young children and the elderly whose immune systems may be fragile.
The N1H1 flu is affecting healthy adults and that is why health officials, the CDC, and other agencies are taking precaution.
The goal of the CDC and other public health agencies is to:
1. Reduce transmission and illness severity, and
2. Provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this emergency.
If they did nothing and there were cases found in Davis then members of the public would be upset because more aggressive measures were not taken.
I applaud the Yolo County Health Department for taking some safety precautions to keep our community safe.
The CDC guidelines say that schools should be closed when there is a “confirmed” case. In this case, they closed the schools on Friday evening as a “probable” case and the case was determined to be negative on Sunday morning. Why couldn’t they follow CDC guidelines and wait for confirmation before closing the school?
Here’s what’s going on around the state. Note that many of these cases are also listed as probable.
Three schools closing in El Centro:
[url]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/three-schools-in-el-centro-closed-due-to-probable-swine-flu.html[/url]
Three schools in Tulare County:
[url]http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20090502/NEWS01/905020316[/url]
Two schools in Oxnard (Ventura County):
[url]http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/may/03/county-gets-fourth-likely-flu-patient/[/url]
Four schools in Riverside County:
[url]http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090503/NEWS01/90503003[/url]
Five schools in Contra Costa County:
[url]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/baycitynews/roundup.DTL&hw=swine+flu+schools+closure&sn=006&sc=795[/url]
One Berkeley elementary school closed:
[url]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/03/state/n155124D90.DTL&hw=swine+flu+schools+closure&sn=002&sc=937[/url]
Marin County HS closed:
[url]http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/1375458.html[/url]
“The N1H1 flu is affecting healthy adults and that is why health officials, the CDC, and other agencies are taking precaution.”
The regular flu affects healthy adults, too. But as with any flu, most of the deaths are from highly vulnerable populations, including the elderly, people with immune deficiencies and young children (under 4).
No Americans have yet died from this swine flu and only a few people in the U.S. have been hospitalized. The child in Texas who died was Mexican living in Mexico who caught the disease in Mexico and came to the U.S. after getting ill. No Americans exposed to that child died or was hospitalized.
It’s a mystery so far why only Mexicans are dying from this flu. There are a couple of leading theories ([url]http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/swine.flu.mexico/index.html[/url]), neither of which applies so much to Americans:
[i]Howard Markel, a physician and director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan said, the people who have died in Mexico could have had what he called “another co-factor,” such as taking medicine or having pre-existing infections that would make them more vulnerable. It’s also possible, he said, that those who died had an underlying genetic predisposition or condition.
Louis Sullivan, a physician and former head of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush, pointed to possible “complicating factors,” such as malnutrition, poor housing or crowded conditions.[/i]
Why couldn’t they follow CDC guidelines and wait for confirmation before closing the school?
It seems to me that it’s easier to announce the school closure as soon as they had a probable case and then rescind the closure as the information changed than to wait for confirmation and make the announcement last minute. At least parents had some time to make alternative arrangements.
I too am glad that the health department and school district are on top of things. No doubt that many people worked all weekend as the situation was evolving. They deserve our gratitude for doing their best to keep us all safe.
It’s fortunate that not all public health officials in California are behaving as irrationally as ours are in Yolo County. This comes from San Francisco–[url=http://www.publicceo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=210:editorial-public-officials-must-be-calming-voice-in-swine-flu-worries&catid=11:local-governments-editorial&Itemid=20]Dr. Mitchel Katz, San Francisco Public Health Director, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “People are not very sick. That’s why this is not a health crisis.” “We’re seeing epidemic spread of a non-serious illness,” Katz said. Katz said that people must take the same health practices that are practiced during any flu season[/url.
Sadly, the Davis school district was misled by hysterical misinformation that the swine flu is some kind of death sentence for healthy teenagers. Anyone with scientific knowledge about public health knows school closures are not warranted when one child gets the flu, even if it’s the swine flu.
Sorry for the url mistake. One more time–
This comes from San Francisco–Dr. Mitchel Katz, San Francisco Public Health Director, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “People are not very sick. That’s why this is not a health crisis.” “We’re seeing epidemic spread of a non-serious illness,” Katz said. Katz said that people must take the same health practices that are practiced during any flu season ([url]http://www.publicceo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=210:editorial-public-officials-must-be-calming-voice-in-swine-flu-worries&catid=11:local-governments-editorial&Itemid=20[/url]).
“It’s fortunate that not all public health officials in California are behaving as irrationally as ours are in Yolo County. This comes from San Francisco”
The plan to close Holmes because of a probable swine flu case is not unique to Davis or Yolo County. Note links above.
Now check out how things are going in Texas, where they’re not talking about closing a school or two, but shutting down entire school districts:
[url]http://www.star-telegram.com/health/story/1354317.html[/url]
It’s interesting how on Saturday critical comments were being directed at Hammond and DJUSD officials for the original decision. If you look around, things in Davis aren’t as bad or “hysterical” as other regions.
We are taking zero chances with this virus. So far the best info we have found is on this site http://www.h1n1virusfacts.com
Stay safe!
We are taking zero chances with this virus. So far the best info we have found is on this site http://www.h1n1virusfacts.com
Stay safe!