Late Saturday, the Vanguard received word that the Davis Joint Unified School District was directed by the County Health Department that they had to close Holmes Junior High School due to a probable case of H1N1 Influenza.
In May 1, 2009 letter from Linda Legnitto, Deputy Superintendent from the Yolo County Office of Education:
“When a confirmed case of the H1N1 virus is found in a child, the local Yolo County Public Health Officer, Dr. Joseph Iser, will contact the Yolo County Office of Education and the school district in which that child attends school to order a dismissal of students from that school district. All extra curricular activities for students should also be cancelled during the dismissal period. There is an important distinction between student dismissal and a school closure. In a situation where students are dismissed, school staff is still required to report to their site; the school is not closed. Dr. Iser has directed that the siblings of ill children should also stay at home. The siblings of children dismissed from school who have no symptoms of illness should be closely monitored, but should continue to attend school.”
“Holmes Jr. High School in Davis has a student diagnosed with a presumptive case of H1N1 Influenza. The Yolo County Health department has instructed the district to release the students and their siblings from school for the next 14 days.”
We now know as of 7 pm, that the latter instruction to the siblings was a miscommunication.
Associate Superintendent Bruce Colby speaking with the Vanguard late Saturday reiterated that the County Health Department has jursidiction over the matter and they were directed to close the school based on the student with a probable case of H1N1 Influenza.
Moreover, he stated that the protocol from the Health Department as handed down is that if there were to be a second case of H1N1 Influenza, the entire school district would shutdown for a period of 14 days. This clear also in the CDC’s recommendations.
The CDC makes the following recommendations in the case of infected students:
“Interim Recommendations
* Sick people (students, faculty and staff) should stay home unless they need to seek medical care and stay away from schools regardless of whether schools and childcare facilities are operating normally or have dismissed students or closed, respectively.
* Dismissal of students in a school and closure of childcare facilities should be considered in schools with one or more laboratory-confirmed or non-subtypable influenza A case among students, faculty or staff in order to decrease the spread of illness in the community.
* Dismissal of students from schools and closure of childcare facilities should be considered for not-yet-affected schools and childcare facilities in the same area (e.g. a feeder school network or a geographic area) if more than one school or childcare facility in that area has confirmed or non-subtypable influenza A cases among their students, faculty, or staff. This would include preemptively dismissing students from schools in that area, including schools without current laboratory-confirmed cases.
* Neighboring schools to those that dismiss students should also consider preemptively dismissing students from schools without current laboratory-confirmed cases. Issues to consider include geographic proximity and extent of mixing of student populations among area schools.
* If a school dismisses students or a childcare facility closes, school or childcare-related gatherings should also be canceled. Parents and students should be encouraged to avoid congregating in large numbers outside of the school setting.”
Mr. Colby wanted to clarify that the school was acting under the authority of the Yolo County Health Department and clear up any misperceptions that were being spread on the Vanguard by members of the public.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Advice for Parents on Talking to Children About Novel H1N1 Flu (Formerly Swine Flu) Concerns
[url]http://tinyurl.com/c3wy25[/url]
Then maybe the County Health Dept. is engaging in CYA? It seems like overkill based on CDC recommendations posted yesterday by someone. Correct me if I am wrong…
My view: I posted the CDC’s recommendations in this article:
“Dismissal of students in a school and closure of childcare facilities should be considered in schools with one or more laboratory-confirmed or non-subtypable influenza A case among students, faculty or staff in order to decrease the spread of illness in the community.”
Everyone is doing the same thing across the country. It may be overkill or may not be, but it’s probably going to halt the spread pretty quickly.
There are Holmes students in first period classes at DHS, sharing classrooms with Harper, Emerson, and DHS students. Also, aren’t some Holmes students doing Cross-Age Tutoring at elementary schools? Personally I think it would be overkill to close all these schools based on this one case, but it would be within the CDC guidelines as preemptive dismissal.
Never mind. It looks like Holmes is back to being open tomorrow. What a roller-coaster ride!
Is there any good, scientific reason to think the swine flu is more dangerous to junior high students than the regular flu? No.
“This might not be any more virulent than normal seasonal flu infections. We feel reassured that if this develops into a pandemic it might not be a particularly severe one.” Scientists are encouraged by initial analyses of the DNA sequence of the virus, which has found it lacks the traits that led to the death of nearly 50m people in the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak. A senior consultant who has been treating swine flu victims said: “The way they are talking you would think our culture is collapsing. This time last week we were all incredibly worried because the reports from Mexico were that hospitals were full and people were dying all over the place. “Actually it doesn’t seem to be that severe. The symptoms are unpleasant — fevers, shivering, aches — but no worse than normal seasonal flu. Our patient made a full recovery.” ([url]http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6211547.ece[/url])
[i]It may be overkill or may not be, but it’s probably going to halt the spread pretty quickly.[/i]
The reason this is bad public policy is because, much like with the swine flu “epidemic” in 1976, it makes everyone who is rational think the government does not know what it’s doing, and when there is a real threat, people will not pay proper attention. This swine flu is not as virulent as the regular flu, yet we don’t shut down schools every flu season. I’m amazed that other parents are not as disappointed in the irrational behavior of our leadership as I am. I would expect the superintendent to ask serious questions of Dr. Joseph Iser. The first question would be–If you want us to close a school because one child came down with flu symptoms now, why would you not recommend closure of the schools every year when multiple students catch the flu? Normally the Vanguard asks the tough questions of public officials. If he has done that this time, I have not seen it. He seems to just report their decisions, not thinking that those decisions are or were unwarranted.
I actually don’t disagree with you on this point:
“Is there any good, scientific reason to think the swine flu is more dangerous to junior high students than the regular flu? No. “
However, I don’t think the authorities had the time to delay their response and I also don’t think the authorities should be criticized for erring on the side of caution here. Hopefully this will help us better prepare for the real emergency that may well come in the foreseeable future.