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Swine Flu: Health Officials Say Be Prepared For Possible Closure Of Escambia Schools
May 2, 2009
The Escambia County Health Department is asking parents to plan for the possible closure of Escambia County schools and daycares because of the swine flu.
It is a matter of planning at this point; the health department says there are no confirmed or suspected cases of the swine flu in Escambia County. The Escambia County Health Department has been working with the school district since Monday on emergency planning related to the current swine flu outbreak.
“The decision to close schools could be made very quickly. Now is the time for parents to think through how they would care for their children,” said health department Director Dr. John Lanza. “The health department will work with the school district, local private schools and daycare centers to provide sound recommendations when considering the decision to close schools.”
If schools are closed due to the swine flu, they could remain closed up to two weeks.
The guidance from the Florida Department of Health and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that temporarily closing schools and childcare facilities should be considered if there are one or more probable or confirmed swine flu cases among students, faculty or staff in order to decrease the spread of illness in the community.
Health officials also recommend the closure of a school district, or a geographic area within a school district if more than one school in the area has a suspected or confirmed swine flu case among students, faculty or staff.
State and federal officials also recommend that if a school or daycare facility closes, related school activities including sports should be canceled. The health department urges that in the event of a swine flu outbreak, people should avoid congregating in large groups.
NorthEscambia.com will keep you updated on any swine flu issues in North Escambia and surrounding areas.
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5 Responses to “Swine Flu: Health Officials Say Be Prepared For Possible Closure Of Escambia Schools”
For Immediate Release:
May 5, 2009 Contact: DOH Communications Office 850-245-4111
http://www.doh.state.fl.us
1-800-342-3557
TDD: 1-800-226-4329
Hotline open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
May 5, 2009 9:40 a.m.
Florida has five confirmed cases in the following counties: two in Lee, one in Broward, one in Orange , and one in Pinellas.
Alachua, Lee, Indian River, Okeechobee, Palm Beach, Seminole, and Clay have one probable case each. Miami Dade and Broward each has three. Hillsborough County has six probable cases.
A public health emergency was declared by the State Surgeon General.
A toll free information line has been established to address an increasing number of calls from the public requesting Swine Flu information. The number is
1-800-342-3557 and it is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Samples are being received by Florida Department of Health Laboratories for analysis from physicians and hospitals across the state.
The Department of Health continues enhanced surveillance and outreach to physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals. The surveillance system, consisting of sentinel physicians reporting influenza activity, DOH laboratories receiving specimens from physicians and hospitals and our ability to monitor emergency room cases and over- the-counter drug sales is fully operational. We have activated our response plan and are ready to respond to any cases of swine flu if it should occur.
Department of Health continues its enhanced surveillance with a network of Sentinel Physician Providers. These providers send selected samples of laboratory specimens to state laboratories for testing if they have patients with influenza like illness (ILI). These physicians also continue to report weekly ILI cases to the Department of Health.
Anti-virals have been pre-positioned to areas of potential need. We have over one half million individual courses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 2 79 confirmed cases of novel influenza in the United States, with one death in a twenty-three month old.
The World Health Organization (WHO) alert level remains at Phase 5. The declaration of a Phase 5 is a strong signal that the pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.
Participation in Centers for Disease Control and other national conference calls will continue.
The State Surgeon General provided these recommendations:
People with respiratory illness should stay home from work or school to avoid
spreading infections, including influenza, to others in the community.
Avoid close contact with people who are coughing or otherwise appear ill.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
Wash hands frequently to lessen the spread of respiratory illness.
People experiencing cough, fever and fatigue, possibly along with diarrhea and
vomiting, should contact their physician.
If you think you have influenza, please call your health care provider and discuss
whether you need to be seen in their office, emergency department or stay home.
I know it is an important tradition for seniors to walk in graduation. However, to die at that point in their lives would be horrible. I was hospitalized when I was 23 because the flu caused complications that threatened my life. I remember how bitter I felt at the thaught of dieing at that point in my life. Seniors and college students have so many dreams and ambitions that walking and graduating on time is only the beginning.
Kiri,
I’m sure that they would have something lined up for seniors to do in order to stay on schedule unless it became a really horrible outbreak, which luckily appears to be very unlikely. Really, what’s left to do? Finals only? Even if they couldn’t get you back in school to take those, they would probably just base a final grade on what you have averaged throughout the year and still have graduation. So far, most graduations seem to be remaining on schedule, just without the traditional handshakes.
Good luck and congrats on graduating this year. It doesn’t seem like you should be that old yet, lol.
Our school can not close. I am quite sure our seniors would like to finsh this school year as scheduled this year.
Sounds like now is the time to open back up and keep our Health Department open on the Northend. Just a thought.