Upstate School Districts Keeping Close Eye on Swine Flu

Spartanburg District 5 is adjusting its procedure for sending students with fevers home as a result of information from CDC regarding swine flu. According to Dr. Scott Turner, Superintendent: "Our normal procedure was 101 but the CDC is saying fever greater than 100 is one of the symptoms...." They will now be sending students home if their fever is 100 or greater.

We asked school districts in the area if they are making any precautionary adjustments due to information issued by the CDC.

The following responses came via email:

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Rhonda Henderson, Spokesperson, Spartanburg District 2: "For now, we are using the standard DHEC exclusion list and our nurses’ usual good judgment for determining temps, etc. for sending students home (nothing out of the ordinary at this time). We have had the CDC/DHEC flu prevention posters in our schools for some time and continue to remind students of the importance of washing hands and covering coughs. Prevention is priority."

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Dr. Jim Ray, Superintendent, Spartanburg District 3: "Connie, we sent a DHEC link to our nurses to be alert for virus symptoms."

http://www.scdhec.gov/flu/swine-flu.

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Kim Hunter, Spartanburg District 4: "No, not at this time."

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Cynthia Robinson, Director of P.R., Spartanburg District 6: "The temperature at which we send a child home (100 degrees) or require them to stay home was already lower then the CDC recommends, therefore we have not had to make any adjustments to those procedures concerning swine flu."

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Cherokee County, Superindentent Dr. Bill James: “We do not have a certain temp. at which we will send a child home. All of the children who show signs of feeling ill are evaluated on an individual basis. The nurse contacts the parent if children are showing flu-like symptoms or has an issue that could be serious. We have nurses in each school and Mrs. Peeler is the coordinator of nurses. Mrs. Peeler is in contact with the local health dept. on a regular basis. Should a doctor see a student with swine flu he/she is required to report that to the health dept. The health dept. will notify Mrs. Peeler. Typically if we have 10% of the student body in a school sick we close. Because of the risk involved if we had something like this break out in school we would take our guidance from the health dept. Probably the percentage would be much smaller. On a somewhat related issue, our custodial staff is aware and will spend more time and effort in cleaning the buildings and classrooms.”

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Edgar Taylor, Superintendent, Laurens 55: "Thus far we have not taken any action about the swine flu, but we are watching carefully."

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Dr. Wayne Brazell, Superintendent, Laurens 56:

“Right now we are on stand-by with Swine Flu and are contacting our local health department folks to make sure we're on the same page. “

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Oby Lyles, Director of Communications, Greenville County School District:

“We disinfect daily – health rooms, rest room, water coolers, desks, door knobs, etc. Parents are always asked – not to bring sick children to school.”

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From Charlie Glazener, Spokesman, Asheville City School District:

“Connie, we just sent the email below to all our staff.”

Good afternoon all,

Superintendent Johnson asked me to send you the following updates:

As you are aware, the federal government and state and local officials are closely monitoring the flu outbreak that has yielded, as of noon today, 73 confirmed cases of the ‘Swine Flu’ in the U.S. On Sunday, our government declared a public health emergency as a "precautionary tool to ensure that we have the resources we need at our disposal to respond quickly and effectively." President Obama said today that the swine flu outbreak is a "cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert," but is not a "cause for alarm."

Our district’s safe and drug-free schools coordinator, Michele Lemell, met with the Leadership Team this morning. She has been in close contact with the Buncombe County Health Center. We reviewed a portion of the Buncombe County Health Center Pandemic Influenza Plan, specifically the school toolkit section (Section J) of that plan.

The best response to this health alert is simply this: stay vigilant, keep informed and practice good hygiene. Here are three resources to help you do just that:

The link to the national update on Swine Flu:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

…and the link to Buncombe County’s site: http://www.buncombecounty.org/news_Detail.asp?newsID=7440

Principals, the Buncombe County Health Center has suggested we follow the Seasonal Flu Protocol (printed below) as a proactive measure to improve the hygiene of students and staff, with these key recommendations:

• Use proper hand washing technique with soap and water.

• Use sanitizer, if hand washing is not available.

• Cover nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and dispose of used tissues in appropriate waste receptacles.

• Report flu absences to school health nurses/central office/public health officials, when requested.

SEASONAL FLU PROTOCOL

LEAD ADMINISTRATOR RESPONSE

• Report flu absences to school health nurses, central office and public health officials when requested.

• Any employee, student, teacher, or staff suspected of having the flu should not attend school.

• Sick students and staff should stay home from school until they have been without fever for 24 hours to help prevent spreading illness to others.

• Allow regular breaks for the students and teachers to wash hands. Use of hand sanitizer may not be effective.

• Restrooms should be checked regularly to ensure that soap and paper towels are always available.

• The flu can be spread from coughs or sneezes. Make sure tissues are available in all classrooms and common areas such as libraries or lunchrooms.

• All students and staff should avoid sharing glasses, water bottles, drinks, spoons/forks, etc.

• Follow instructions from central office, in the event of a school closure.

STAFF RESPONSE

• Follow instructions of lead administrator.

• Wash your hands regularly and dry thoroughly. Use of hand sanitizer may not be effective.

• Allow regular breaks for the students to wash hands for 15- 20 seconds (long enough to sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice), and to dry their hands thoroughly.

• Advise students to cover their noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing, and to dispose of used tissues in appropriate waste receptacles.

• Clean commonly used surfaces such as door handles, handrails, eating surfaces, desks, etc., frequently with approved disinfectant.