Top 7 H1N1 Questions Answered

H1N1 is in the schools and in recent weeks parents have called asking questions like “How do I know whether to keep my child home?” Schools around the Upstate are communicating with parents via newsletters and websites, and tonight we are providing you with more resources to help arm and protect yourself.

In recent days, the school district says they are seeing fewer parents panicking over H1N1. News Channel 7 wants to answer your Top 7 questions about H1N1.

As the parent of two young children, Jennifer Rogers is aware of the H1N1 virus, but she still wants to know:

Question 7

Q: "Is there a vaccine for it and is there something else we can do to prevent it?
A: Yes. According to D-HEC the vaccines are currently being tested and should be available to students at most schools in the Upstate in the fall.
The vaccines will be free and voluntary and experts say meanwhile, keep washing your hands and coughing into your arm.

Question 6

Q: How safe are the vaccines?
A: Dr. Melissa Overman, Medical Director, DHEC: "Thus far, in adults, it has shown to be safe enough that they have started doing the testing and with pregnant women and with children. The tests have to meet certain standards before they will start doing the testing on kids."

Question 5

Most people have heard H1N1 is no worse then the typical flu, but Blake Dutcher asks,
Q: "You’ve heard about a few deaths. What was different for them?"
A: (Dr. Overman): "Most of them they had some other underlying medical condition, like an autoimmune disease or some kind of congenital issue...cerebral palsy is a big one in some of the kids who died."

Question 4:

Q: Is H1N1 in schools?
A: (Dr. Overman): "H1N1 was in schools the day they opened schools." Doctor Overman believes it has hit harder in our region and in the Upstate because our schools started earlier than other parts of the country.
Question 3:

Q: Some parents are asking schools why aren't they shutting down?

A: (Dr. Overman): "We don't have the amount of absences that would indicate that or the amount of illness that work with that."

Question 2:

Q: Just how can you get it?
A: Dr. Overman says it’s sent in tiny droplets when you squeeze or cough into the air, and it's not unreasonable to think you can pick it up from typing on a keyboard and then touching your face.

The most common question when it comes to the H1N1 virus?

Question 1:

"Just how concerned should we be?"

According to Dr. Overman, the bottom line is, "As long as your child is healthy, and doing well and doesn't have any specific risk factors they should continue going to school, until you are notified by the school that there is something significant going on."

So how do you know if you should keep your child out of school? The CDC says they should stay at home or go home if he or she has a fever greater than or equal to -100 degrees Fahrenheit, or signs of a fever like a flushed appearance, sweating or shivering, or at least one of the following: a sore throat or cough for which there is no other known cause.