NORWICH – Chenango County’s school district officials are scheduled to meet with the director of the county’s public health department early this month to receive an update on the H1N1 influenza.
Like most districts, the Norwich City School District hasn’t issued an advisory about the world’s newest flu strain to parents and staff since the end of the school year in June.
Two cases were reported in the NCSD and less than a dozen confirmed throughout the county after swine flu began to spread in the Northeast last year. “We are cautiously awaiting to see what happens here over the course of the fall,” said District Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan.
Last week, the White House estimated that up to 90,000 Americans could die of swine flu this year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that children were at greatest risk of being infected with H1N1 (14 times more likely than adults over age 60) and that babies and toddlers were most likely to be hospitalized with severe complications.
The CDC is advising schools not to close when cases are detected, but instead to take preventative measures such as mandating hand washing and regular door knob sanitizing.
“We don’t anticipate that we will require them (school officials) to take a specific direction for their school. They can decide,” Chenango County Public Health Director Marcas Flindt said. “But if a student is sick, they should stay home and not return for 24 hours after their fever has subsided.”
Flindt said there’s “no question” the disease would pick up this fall and winter. However, he cautions people from panicking, advising them to be concerned “at the same level as they are concerned every year about seasonal flu.”
“The swine flu is just a seasonal flu with a little bit of a genetic bent to it. It’s hard for the public to put this in perspective. We want people to be aware and take precautions, but there certainly is not the need for panic,” he said.
The CDC is doing human trials to determine the safety and effectiveness of a new vaccine developed to guard against the illness. Testing began just three weeks ago, and the go-ahead for immunization is expected in November.
