WTHR |Carmel-Clay ramps up flu precautions
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Cat Andersen/Eyewitness News
Hamilton County - Schools are seeing a spike in absentee rates, and some administrators believe the H1N1 flu strain is playing a role. Now schools are trying to figure out how to stop the illness from spreading while continuing to teach the students.
With absentee rates spiking to 10 and 15 percent Monday and Tuesday and fall break falling on Thursday and Friday, Wednesday seemed like perfect timing to give students one extra day to get better.
The Heritage Christian school campus was quiet Wednesday, with just a few cars in the parking lot. Teachers and students were asked to stay home. The school's website said, "This is a precautionary measure taken on behalf of the administration in an effort to prevent the spread of illness to others in the HCS family."
Less than ten miles away, Carmel High School has seen the same spike in absentee rates - 10 percent on Monday and 15 percent on Tuesday. Administrators say the school clinic is packed.
"It's busy. We're making adjustments today. Finding a larger room to put the kids in; get them out of the hallway," said Patty Antle, Carmel-Clay head nurse.
But they're not closing the school.
"Last spring, H1N1 was new, the response was to close the schools, scrub it down, try to stop the spread. I think they rapidly found out that didn't stop the spread because kids get together. They go to the mall, they go to movies, they go to each other's houses. So all you're doing is disrupting the educational process," said Steve Dillon, Carmel-Clay student services.
"We're just treating it all as the flu," said Antle. "Because in most cases, the doctors aren't testing to determine if it's the seasonal or H1N1 so we're just treating it all as the same and sending the kids home using our nursing judgment and asking parents to keep them home 24 hours without medication and without fevers before sending them back to school."
Antle says this flu season has come earlier.
"We're seeing a lot of colds and coughs and fevers," she said.
But school officials also say these absentee rates and symptoms are what they see every flu season: fever, cough, body aches, chills and sneezing. The key difference between cold and flu is that the flu generates a fever. With H1N1, it can be 100 degrees or higher.
"Typical fall activity for us," Antle said.
"Probably lack of staff would force us to close before students would," Dillon added.
But they say at last count only 30 staff members were out sick district wide, so for now they'll continue to take temperatures, mask students who appear contagious and consider adjusting attendance policies to encourage students to stay home until they're completely flu-free.
"Carmel-Clay is going to do whatever it can to keep the schools open," said Antle.
Prairie Trace Elementary School was seeing a lot of sick children Wednesday as well.
The Health Department is offering a toll-free hotline for the public to call for information on the H1N1 flu and its vaccine at: 1-877-826-0011 or TTY 1-888-561-0044. It will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday-Friday.
Related links and stories:
Heritage Christian cancels school Wednesday
Health officials investigate suspected flu-related death
Indiana begins H1N1 flu vaccinations
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