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Following the adage that cleanliness is next to godliness, the Palo Alto Unified School District is urging families and school employees to take extra precautions this fall to prevent the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus.
“We’ve talked to all our custodians, making sure that all the cleaning supplies are there, making sure the students have plenty of soap and water,” Assistant Superintendent Linda Common said of school preparations. “We have provided extra funds for the schools to buy more masks … and hand sanitizers.”
Palo Alto health officials are emphasizing general hygiene as a high priority, especially in schools, where close contact makes it easy for viruses to spread.
School employees must follow procedures outlined by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department when dealing with students who may have H1N1, also called “swine flu.”
“When a symptomatic student comes into the health office, they need to put on a mask and must be isolated by 6 feet. The person placing the mask must use gloves,” Common said.
Cases of patients with H1N1 flu virus first appeared in April 2009, spreading much like common seasonal flu viruses. Symptoms of H1N1 and other flu viruses are similar and include fever, runny nose, cough, sore throat, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Patients with H1N1 flu may also experience diarrhea and vomiting. Unlike other flus, H1N1 is a new strain, so people will have little immunity against it.
As of Sept. 3, the county’s health department reported eight deaths and 85 hospitalizations, 30 of which were admitted to the ICU.
More than 75 percent of H1N1 cases in Santa Clara County have been in patients younger than 25 years old, an Aug. 17 report stated. The median age is 17.
The interim nurse at Gunn High School said that she has not yet noticed a rise in absences due to the virus. On the county level, officials are observing larger trends rather than individual cases.
Schools will be sending home children who have fevers of 100 degrees, a lower threshold than before, Common said. Nurses will continue to monitor the student and report to the county health department, she added.
Children must remain at home until they are fever-free for at least 24 hours without taking any medicine. For settings with very young or medically fragile students, the isolation time is seven days from the onset of symptoms, Common said.
The district has e-mailed a letter to 12,000 Palo Alto families about the virus, providing definitions of pandemic, H1N1 and seasonal influenzas, Common said. A copy of the letter is available online in four languages at www.pausd.org. The letter encourages families to protect their children by obtaining the regular seasonal flu vaccine.
Vaccine distribution in Santa Clara County will take a “tiered approach,” said Joy Alexiou, spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. Medical providers will be the first to offer the vaccine, and then the public-health department will also receive a supply. Some school districts have medical staff in place who may request the vaccine, she added.
“If we see certain populations of school-age children aren’t getting the vaccine through their pediatrician, then we’ll look at ways to provide the vaccine and to make sure that everyone who needs it gets it,” she said. Depending on the available staff, those providers could be community clinics or schools. “Where it makes sense, you’ll work with the resources.”
The next step for Palo Alto schools is to plan for situations in which a large percentage of the staff or student body is out sick, Common said. Task forces are now meeting to craft procedures in case a school has to be closed or if teachers are home taking care of their own children, she added.
Schools “need to be proactive if we need lots of substitutes,” she said. “We need to start thinking what would happen if we have a certain amount of students that are home: Will we be able to give them their homework through the Internet? Will we have teachers covering other classes?”
Still, she recommends, “When there’s a concern, that parents should always talk to their own doctors.”
SO uh which virus are they promoting this year??? Who has the cure or vaccine??
If you dont want your kid to get sick all you have to do is what healthcare professionals like me do every single day for the last 60 yrs. Wash your hands with soap and warm water. Thats it ! THats all you gotta do!
One more thing I heard was that Baxter pharmaceuticals, were the ones who engineered the H1 Series Flu viruses. Seems like the batches they sent out as vaccines to Czech Republic, who tested them on ferrets before distributing to humans, turns out the ferrets all died. This was a finished product sent out to 19 countries by Baxter International Inc. Maybe in 50 yrs when this doesnt matter anymore I will see it on the discovery channel or one of those secrets of the Government shows that reveal all the US dirty secrets about 60 yrs to late to matter. Maybe I’ll see the documentary on Fort Dix where an officer complained of being tired and died the next day, as his fellow enlisted men fell ill as well.
From my reading up on this subject, we must get the kids to wash with hot water and soap, and many of our school bathrooms do not have hot water. We must start using our feet to flush the toilet. We must not put backpacks or purses on the floor of the bathrooms but hang them as backpacks and purses are usually taken home and put on kitchen counters where they can pass on germs. We must use the paper towels used to dry hands to open bathroom doors, so the trashcan must be beside the door, and use a foot to keep the door open while discarding the towel into the trash.
We must wash hands before eating and preferably use clean utensils rather than fingers and wash again after eating. We must remember that anything in the classroom that is touched by many people must be cleansed properly regularly, door handles, light switches, keyboards, etc. Chlorox wipes in the classrooms would also be useful.
I do not know abut your schools but at the elementary school my children go to, there is no paper towels to dry hands. There is cold water and soap. Many kids do not know how to wash hands well, specially kinders and first graders. It will really help if we go back to paper towels to remove whatever dirth the children left behind.
Dear Parent AMEN TO THAT
so many people forget little techniques to keep germ free. Thank you for putting so many into one spot. Kudos to you.
How about mounting Purel dispensers outside the bathrooms and inside the cafeteria, like they have on cruise ships?
I hope teachers are encouraged to stay home when they are sick regardless of the fact that a sub will be required. I hope the policy does not allow sick days to be accumulated and used as vacation instead, discouraging their original intended purpose. I hope also that teachers will be encouraged to make concrete procedures for students to acquire notes, handouts and assignments when students have stayed home sick. Furthermore, a clear, fair policy on making up tests and extending deadlines should be in place. Finally, students, just for this season, should be presumed innocent until proven guilty when they stay home sick.
How about PAUSD offering one day of H1N1 vaccines for all students, even for a fee? Our secondary education students miss to much if they are out ill, thus, they will be in class, sick.
New etiquette: people need to also cough and sneeze into their shirt sleeve, not into the hands.
Let’s ask ourselves, with the new wave of construction underway, how many of us eat outside every single day of the whole year with not much more than a sweatshirt on. That is what our high school students do – no lockers to hold coats in cold weather.
Stanford Blood Center invites all to join us at our next Cafe Scientifique discussion on Tuesday, September 22 from 7-9 p.m. This month the topic is “Novel H1N1(swine) Influenza: An Update on the Current Pandemic”. Arthur Reingold, MD, professor and head of the Division of Epidemiology at UC Berkeley, will discuss the topic as an expert on the prevention of infectious diseases. For the location and more information, visit http://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/news/Scientifique.html
Observer – the Young 5s class ate inside a total of probably 5 or 6 days last year and those were 4 and 5 year olds. This is California. It’s not that cold out at lunchtime. High schoolers can definitely brave the weather. I bet they wouldn’t be caught dead in a cafeteria even if we built one.
From my sources, high school students have many places to eat lunches inside and very few eat outside all through the year. Many eat in the student center even if they do not buy lunch there. Many eat in the math resource room, the library, various classrooms, choir room, band room, etc. Clubs that take place inside various locations are also eating places. Many of the teachers have microwaves and many take food that can be microwaved for lunchtime.
Middle Schoolers may have less choice. Not only do they have to eat outside when it is cold, but often have to eat in the sun as there is not enough shade!
Elementary kids eat outside at tables unless it is raining. Generally speaking there is shade, but during the construction portables there was often not enough shade. Shade is often more of a problem than cold.
I think the high school kids have to go to school, sick or not, because they miss too much if they stay home. Also it is a big ordeal to try to make it up if they miss a test. So they go to school sick and pass it around to the other kids.
I disagree with Michele. Showing up at school with a contagious illness is irresponsible and even potentially dangerous if this H1N1 virus mutates into a stronger virus. Health and safety should ALWAYs be the number 1 concern. The schools should know this and make it easier for students to do make up tests.
My daughter at Duveneck is getting a lot of lessons about washing hands (she came home today and showed me what they had taught her). They wipe the kids hands as they are coming into the classroom as well. The teachers are trying there best.
Great to see that others besides schools are trying to inform people about H1N1. I will definitely go listen to the expert talking at the Stanford Blood Center…and hope others go to. Perhaps we can encourage those who are skeptical of the pandemic to join us!
Parts of the world have already had their flu season with H1N1—places like Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, etc.
Their experience as regards the very sick:
There is an increased incidence of very severe lung disease. Real hard to ventilate and oxygenate these patients. Hits younger ones more—15-40 range. More so for pregnant and obese. Still not likely a ton of people will be this sick. But intensive care units will be overloaded– with these patients combined with the usual winter load. Many need somewhat exotic measures taken, and the survivors still stay about 2 weeks or more in the ICU.
That is just if the virus doesn’t mutate into something more virulent by this winter.
Washing hands and wiping down surfaces may help…but one sick kid or teacher at school would make a mockery of all that effort.