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Westerly reports 2 cases of H1N1
ASSOCIATED PRESS A girl receives an intranasal H1N1 vaccine Saturday at a free drive-through vaccine clinic. Vaccines will soon be given at local schools, but officials are no longer testing for H1N1.
The state's health department has stopped H1N1 testing in Rhode Island schools, just as the Westerly school department has confirmed its first two cases of the swine flu.
Annmarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said Friday that the state is no longer performing H1N1 testing at public and private schools due the prevalence of flu symptoms. The agency's latest influenza surveillance report, which is released weekly, notes that flu activity in the state is "widespread."
"We know it's here," Beardsworth said of the swine flu. "At this point, we're just assuming that anyone with influenza-like illness has H1N1 ... In the past couple of weeks, there's definitely been an increase of [influenza] activity in emergency rooms, doctors' offices and schools."
As part of its surveillance efforts, the health department has been monitoring reported cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) through 28 "sentinel" health care providers, which have been reporting ILI cases and administering H1N1 tests at random. The department had also been overseeing H1N1 tests to individuals admitted to the state hospitals with ILI, as well as pregnant women, Beardsworth said.
In Westerly, Assistant Superintendent Sylvia Blanda said the school district learned of its first H1N1 case on Thursday and its second on Friday - but would not disclose which schools the illnesses were reported from. Both cases involved students, she said.
Blanda, who is currently serving as acting district head, said the school system has been sticking to the H1N1 plan it put in place prior the start of the school year, which is reportedly based on state and federal guidelines. Measures include educating students about steps to prevent the spread of the virus, stocking schools with hand soap and sanitizing solution, and cleaning common surfaces like keyboards, doorknobs and railings.
"We continue to follow that," Blanda said.
Across Westerly, student attendance was 90 percent on Friday - slightly lower than the 96.76-percent level reported on the same day one year ago. Elementary school attendance ranged from 95.5 percent at Bradford School to 83 percent at State Street School, Blanda said.
Eighty-eight percent of Westerly Middle School students were present on Friday, while 92 percent of students attended classes at Westerly High School, she added.
Earlier this week, two confirmed H1N1 cases were reported in Stonington Public Schools: a student at Mystic Middle School and a teacher at Stonington High School both tested positive.
A single confirmed case was also reported last week at the Chariho Regional Middle School. The health department issued the school's nurse as many as four to six H1N1 test kits, which were administered at random and returned to the Department of Health Laboratories in Providence; the results of those tests were not available as of Friday afternoon.
The Department of Health is scheduled to start voluntary H1N1 vaccination clinics in schools throughout the state on Monday. Middle and high school students will be vaccinated at clinics during the school day, while elementary school students will be held after school - and in some cases, during the evening.
Children with severe allergies to eggs, or with Guillan-Carre Syndrome, need to be evaluated and vaccinated by a pediatrician.
"School-based clinics are the most efficient and effective way to assure that all Rhode Island school-aged children are offered the H1N1 vaccine in the shortest amount of time," DOH Director David R. Gifford said in a statement. "If parents decline to have their children vaccinated in school, they should be aware that pediatricians will not have the H1N1 vaccine for school-aged children until late December or after the new year."
The first local clinic will be held Tuesday at St. Pius X School in Westerly. They will wrap up locally on Dec. 14 at Westerly High School.
Parents are required to sign and return consent forms to schools before students can be vaccinated. Clinic schedules are available by town and date on the health department's Web site at www.health.ri.gov/flu/about/schoolh1n1clinics.
edupuis@thewesterlysun.com, ckeegan@thewesterlysun.com
More about h1n1 flu
Posted in News, Local on Saturday, October 31, 2009 12:10 am | Tags: H1n1 Flu
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8 comments:
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resident
It's proberly in Every School! Best thing to do is use universal precautions. This means that you expect EVERYONE to have it. Just like drawing blood...you assume EVERYONE has HIV not just the known ones. One more thing...it takes two weeks for the vacine to work. So don't just assume after recieving it your free from getting the virus. Try to stay away from large crouds. Best of Luck, stay safe and disease free!
Mayor of Westerly
DAC, I understand your frustration. However, Westerly doesn't have a Superintendent of Schools right now... The School Committee fired him and saw fit to offer him a severance package as well, to the tune of >$130K.... Perhaps the School Committee is ready to make the call???
With repect to sceptical's comment, if the teachers get sick, the School Department will still pay them as well as having to pay for a substitute... Trust me, not only don't the teachers want to work during the summer, they don't want to work during the school year either!!! Contrary to your belief, 'small town Westerly' politicians included, have had it with this group of ingrates (WTA and their minions).....
sceptical
I have also heard that the school department won't close the schools because that would mean that the teachers would have to work into the summer months.
I have to question our School Department and their priorities. It's another case of small-town Westerly looking after it's own.
sceptical
My 15-yr old grand-daughter went to the ER and was diagnosed with H1N1, given fluids anad sent home. Now my 12 yr old grandson has it and won't take him to the ER because they said there is no treatment. With the rapid deaths of two 12-yr olds in RI, shouldn't the hospital have admitted young patients---even if it's just to watch them?????
DAC
I hear that @ the Babcock middle school over 200 out with flu like symptoms but you need 40% of 980 students befor closing your doors. Why wait for 200 more CHILDREN to get sick. " Wake up superintendent of Westerly school system these are our children, and community. I think there are more then 2 cases, I know someone who has 3 cases in their household. Why aren't the sports dept. and gym classes put on hold until the h1n1 passes, these kids sweat, cough, touching the balls, bats, ect during gym, AND drinking from the water fountain, most of the classes dont have purell available to the staff and students, its this TRUE?"
my3sons
So let me get this straight...the school department will send home a notice when a child has head lice but not when they have H1N1. Something's not right there! It's our right to know if the risk for our children has increased.
unclesmedley
Why not disclose the locations of this dangerous contagion ? The fetish for secrecy that pervades "public" service in Westerly is moving from expensive to dangerous.
Public health trumps public education.
Furthermore, if the rationale is that disclosure will somehow impact attendance at the effected schools, imagine the fretful families at other schools, who will stay home based on deliberately withheld information.
We know there is disease in our town--just not exactly where... This is paternalistic nonsense, couched in a dubious admixture of arbitrary presumption and misplaced institutional priorities...
Westerlylifer
So wait, you want to cause panic by telling people this 'horrible' flu is in our schools, but won't let us know what school? That makes no sense at all. If you're choosing to get your child vaccinated they have yet to be. If you still have a high risk child unvaccinated I'd want to protect them a little more, just as you do w/ the seasonal flu. It's only fair you report what school the illness has been determined to be at.