Hot Topic
What to do about the flu
With flu season approaching, now is a
good time to think about preparations for a possible
pandemic. A flu pandemic is a worldwide outbreak that happens
when a new flu virus develops. Because people have little or
no immunity to the new virus, it spreads easily and quickly.
Currently, there is no pandemic flu
anywhere in the world. The H5N1 avian influenza, or “bird flu,”
noted in news accounts has not qualified as pandemic.
Furthermore, scientists cannot predict if or when this might
happen.
One of the major questions related to
pandemic flu that school leaders often ask is “When should we
close our doors?” At this point, there is no concrete formula to
determine when a school should close. The South Dakota
Department of Health simply encourages schools to monitor
absenteeism and numbers of sick children. As in a normal flu
season, those numbers should help guide local decisions. In the
event of a pandemic, it is possible that the state may close
schools as well as other public facilities and events to limit
spread.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services has created a School District (K-12) Pandemic Influenza
Planning Checklist. This checklist may prove helpful to you as
you plan for a possible pandemic. The checklist can be found at
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/schoolchecklist.html.
The state Department of Health recommends
that efforts to control pandemic influenza should focus on:
-
Promoting hand washing and respiratory
hygiene/cough etiquette (i.e., covering the mouth and nose
when coughing and sneezing)
-
Keeping sick students, staff and
workers away from school while they are infectious
-
Ensuring that supplies for hand washing
and respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette (i.e., tissues and
receptacles for their disposal) are available
A number of resources, including hand
washing posters and basic influenza fact sheets, are available
on the South Dakota Department of Health’s flu Web site at
http://flu.sd.gov.
Please feel free to download and print these items for
use at your school.
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