By Kathy Chaffinkchaffin@salisburypost.com
Though the numbers have tapered off some, school officials in Rowan and Cabarrus counties say the flu and other illnesses continue to linger.
The high number of absences at Bostian Elementary and Erwin Middle schools last week has subsided, according to Rowan-Salisbury School System officials. Erwin Principal Ray Whitaker said on one day last week, 180 of the school’s 950 students were either absent or sent home sick.
However, none of the students were confirmed as having the swine flu, also known as the H1N1 flu, he said. “It wasn’t all flu-like symptoms. We’ve had allergies. We’ve had colds …”
Rita Foil, public information officer for the Rowan-Salisbury system, said schools are reporting all kinds of illnesses. “We’re seeing a smorgasbord of things that are being passed around.”
Like other schools in he system, Whitaker said Erwin’s teachers sent literature about the swine flu home with students and were taking extreme precautions ó including wiping down all the bus seats, desks, door knobs, doors, even floors, with disinfectant ó to prevent the spread of flu.
The number of absences have decreased dramatically this week. On Tuesday, he said there were only 60. “That’s not bad at all.”
Foil said Bostian Elementary reported close to 25 percent of its third-graders were out part of last week with flu-like symptoms. “Again, none of these have been confirmed as cases of H1N1,” she said.
The school’s absences are back to a normal rate this week, she said.
The Kannapolis City Schools are averaging about 25 students a day either staying home or going home with flu-like symptoms, according to Ellen Boyd, community relations director for the system. “That’s not too bad out of 5,000 students, give or take,” Boyd said.
The system has sent out Connect-Ed telephone messages informing parents of symptoms of the swine flu and precautions they should take, she said.
Jan Odell, school health director for Cabarrus Health Alliance, said the flu has been widespread for at least two weeks. “We know most of the flu is H1N1 because of the typing that is done of the samples,” she said.
There are specific sentinel sites throughout the state which report cases of flu to the N.C. Division of Public Health. “This is the pandemic H1N1 flu right now,” she said.
Odell said the flu does not seem to be more prevalent among any of the school grade levels. “We’ve had it everywhere from high schools to daycares,” she said, “and I’m sure if you were to canvas every workplace, you would find it at the auto place and the TV repair shop and Wal-Mart.”
The season for the regular flu hasn’t even gotten started, Odell said. “We sometimes get a little peppering of it in late November and December,” she said, “but we really peak in January and February, sometimes even in March. The season can run into May.
“This has been like a high occurrence of flu like we might see in a hard-hit January with the seasonal flu.”
Foil said it’s important to emphasize to parents the importance of keeping their children home if they’re sick. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends that parents keep their children home for 24 hours after they are fever-free with no fever-reducing medication such as Tylenol.
“That means no mall, nowhere,” she said. “Just keep them home because the flu is highly contagious.”
Odell said parents in Cabarrus have been very responsible in keeping their children home when exhibiting symptoms of the flu. “We’re hoping that will continue,” she said. “We have continued to keep them abreast with Connect-Ed calls and different things on the Web site.”
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.