Schools with H1N1 cases advised to remain open

Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Bracing for a resurgence of swine-flu cases, federal officials on Friday advised U.S. schools to send sick children home with masks this fall but otherwise stay open unless they serve many students with certain medical conditions. State and local officials also should plan for temporary home-schooling and consider additional steps if the flu dramatically worsens.

The recommendations, released in a news conference and on government Web sites, mark a change from the spring, when U.S. officials initially urged state and local officials to close schools at the first sign of suspected infection by the H1N1 virus.

In an announcement timed for the start of the school year, top Obama health, education and homeland security officials say new medical evidence about the global pandemic shows that the certain disruption caused by mass closures outweighs the potential benefits, at least for now.

“It is now clear [that] closure of schools is rarely indicated,” said Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Even if H1N1 is in the school, there are measures we can take to protect the students, to protect the staff and allow learning to continue.”

The guidance for public and private K-12 schools is among a rolling set of recommendations that the federal government will release in coming days ahead of the expected worsening of the outbreak as the weather cools and schools speed transmission of the flu. More guidelines will be issued within days for pre-kindergarten and early- learning centers, by Aug. 23 to colleges and universities, and later to U.S employers, officials said.

Swine flu is expected to hit the nation’s 130,000 schools and 55 million students especially hard. Unlike seasonal flu, which causes the most complications in older people and those who are already sick, more than half of U.S. cases have involved people under 18. Young people also are more infectious, studies show.

Most people experience mild illness, although some have become severely ill, and 312 people have died in the United States as of June 30, according to the CDC.

Officials said Friday the key to the strategy is for people who are sick to stay home until at least 24 hours after their fever ends. If they show up in school, sick students and staff should be separated in a clean, safe room and given protective gear such as a mask until they can go home, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.