Officials fear H1N1, seasonal flu will be a double whammy for schools
For all the focus on the H1N1 virus in recent weeks, Sacramento area schools say they aren't seeing unusually high rates of student absences. The number of kids staying home sick, officials say, is similar to what it might be during a typical flu season.
But the regular flu season – bringing with it other strains of the virus – is only now getting under way. The big question facing health officials is what happens next: Will seasonal flu hit schools alongside H1N1, vastly multiplying the number of empty seats?
"This is such an unusual flu year, so I don't know what to expect," said Sacramento County public health officer Dr. Glennah Trochet. "We're preparing for everything."
Overall, according to data collected by Sacramento County health officials, area school districts aren't reporting unusually high absence rates. Only 8 percent of reporting schools had absence rates over 10 percent at the end of October.
And some schools reporting higher absence rates have adopted a strict policy of sending home all students with flu-like symptoms.
The Natomas Unified district on Friday sent home an entire fifth-grade class at H. Allen Hight Elementary because 16 of its 30 students were out sick. School officials didn't know if all those students had swine flu but weren't taking any chances.
"It went smoothly, although it caused some anxiety for me because we were closing a classroom – sort of unprecedented in the district," said Principal Hervey Taylor.
Taylor was following new guidelines released by the Natomas district just the day before. The rules allow officials to close a class for three calendar days if more than half of the students in that class fall ill.
The district previously offered officials only the option of closing an entire school, said Heidi Van Zant, district spokeswoman.
Natomas officials decided to take the targeted approach after finding "pockets of illness," particularly in elementary schools, Van Zant said.
Mary Ann Delleney, Folsom Cordova Unified School District's health services director, said she also is seeing more flu at the elementary school level, as well as among students spending time with other kids in non-ventilated environments.
For example, a large proportion of students who went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch came down with swine flu, probably from sitting together on a school bus, she said.
Delleney said most children who have come down with H1N1 have recovered within a week.
"Though we are seeing ill children on a daily basis, they are not really, really ill for the most part," she said.
That is not always the case.
A first-grader at Browns Valley Elementary in Vacaville died last month of complications from H1N1. The school she attended had absence rates of about 25 percent that week and was closed for two days, said John Aycock, superintendent in the Vacaville Unified district.
Vacaville Christian High School closed that same week because one-third of its staff was sick and the school simply couldn't operate.
Now, absence rates in the Vacaville district are in the normal range of 3 percent to 5 percent – except at Browns Valley Elementary, where the rate is holding steady at about 15 percent.
"It's our belief that we have more students absent due to concerns of parents than to students that are actually sick," said Aycock, the Vaca-ville superintendent.
Children are experiencing the highest rates of new H1N1 infections and have a relatively high risk of developing complications, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is in contrast to a typical seasonal flu, which tends to pose the greatest risk to the elderly.
Since April, there have been 15 deaths attributed to the H1N1 virus in Sacramento County and a steady increase in the number of people hospitalized with the virus.
The county typically has one or two flu-related deaths each year, Trochet told The Bee last week.
While Sacramento County is not holding H1N1 vaccine clinics specifically for school-age children, kids will be first in line at the county's free clinics. The near-daily clinics at various locations start Monday.
LIVE ONLINE CHAT
Join us at noon today as Dr. Glennah Trochet, Sacramento County's public health officer; Dr. Javeed Siddiqui, a specialist in infectious diseases at UC Davis Medical Center; and Bee reporter Anna Tong talk about this flu season and take questions.
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