- Our schools are beginning to see an increase in flu and flu-like illness. The number one way to prevent the flu is to get your yearly flu shot and it is still not too late to get yours! The CDC recommends preventative steps such as:
- · Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. After using a tissue, throw it in the trash and wash your hands.
- often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
- · Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
- · Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs like flu.
- · Stay home if you are sick and contact your primary care physician
- Remember, students must be free from fever (100˚ or more), vomiting and/or diarrhea for at least 24 hours (without the use of medication) before returning to school. Stay healthy everyone!!
Remembering the challenges of last year’s flu season, school officials are taking proactive steps in an attempt to minimize the impact this year. So far, it seems to be working.
“That doesn’t help someone feel better if they’ve got the flu and it’s spreading through their house, but it is good to be able to say it’s not as bad as last year,” Superintendent McGee said of this flu season’s impact on the Bibb County school system.
“All students (with parental permission) and faculty are offered free flu shots each year…”
Bibb Medical Center reports confirmed flu cases seen in the Rural Health Clinic and in their Emergency Department as totaling 36 in January. The total jumped to 123 so far in February, which is not even halfway over. This past weekend alone accounted for 30 of those cases in the ER.
An announcement last week that parent notes for a child having the flu would – for a limited time – be counted as a doctor’s note and not count against the limited number of parent excuses allowed seems a welcome relief to many students and parents. Last year the State Department of Public Health urged everyone during the height of the flu season to stay home, not even going to the doctor or ER unless you were very young or very old or had additional complications. The idea being to minimize the spread of the flu virus, since in most cases nothing would be done except send the patient home with a prescription for rest, fluids, and Tylenol or Ibuprofen to control fever. More severe cases warranted a prescription for the antiviral drug Tamiflu.
From the Bibb County School District website:
As a reminder, symptoms of the flu include fever, cough, muscle aches and extreme fatigue. Prevention methods are: proper and frequent hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes and most importantly staying home when sick. Students should be free from fever, diarrhea and/or vomiting, without the use of medication, for at least 24 hours before returning to school. If students show signs of flu while at school, parents will be notified immediately. Starting today, February 4th and ending February 28th, schools will allow parent notes for flu and flu-like illness to be excused and not count against the parent note limit.
When absences spiked so high a couple weeks ago, primarily at West Blocton Middle and West Blocton High, the system decided it was a good idea to reinstate the parental note policy, temporarily.
“We can’t just let it go on indefinitely,” the Superintendent said, “and the date range is somewhat arbitrary, but we’ve tried to give it a four week window that generally should cover the peak run of it. We did wind up extending it last year, and we may do that this year if we need to. We will just keep monitoring the situation.”
West Blocton High School Assistant Principal David Steele said that attendance has been affected, though “not to the level it was last year.” He added, “All students (with parental permission) and faculty are offered free flu shots each year through Health Hero or PEEHIP. They come to the school and administer the shots on site in the fall.”
Superintendent McGee said sometimes parents ask why Bibb schools don’t close down for the flu like some other systems. “The research is inconclusive” on how effective a school shutdown is at stopping a flu outbreak, he said. “The CDC says a closure must be for eight or more days to really have any effect.” He added that while a shorter three to four day closure could allow for a thorough cleaning, “…we’ve been trying to keep sanitized all along.”
Our schools are beginning to see an increase in flu and flu-like illness. The number one way to prevent the flu is to get your yearly flu shot and it is still not too late to get yours! The CDC recommends preventative steps such as:
· Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. After using a tissue, throw it in the trash and wash your hands.
· Wash your hands often with soap and water. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
· Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth. Germs spread this way.
· Clean and disinfect surfaces and objects that may be contaminated with germs like flu.
· Stay home if you are sick and contact your primary care physician
Remember, students must be free from fever (100˚ or more), vomiting and/or diarrhea for at least 24 hours (without the use of medication) before returning to school. Stay healthy everyone!!
