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Children's flu cases upsetting
By Nancy Shields ? COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU ? May 31, 2009
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ASBURY PARK ? With the swine flu virus in New York City making headlines during the past month, Lisa Vega could see herself getting nervous about her three sons, ages 7, 5 and 3.
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Then on Wednesday, her 5-year-old was one of seven children sent home from a Thurgood Marshall Elementary School kindergarten class with flu symptoms.
The next day, the 5-year-old and his 7-year-old brother were among 10 children tested for the H1N1 virus. Five days later, after a long Memorial Day weekend, the test results came back that her boys were among eight out of the 10 pupils who tested positive. Her 3-year-old tested negative.
""When they called me on Tuesday, my heart just dropped,'' Vega said. ""I made the one with the highest fever sleep next to me.''
Her doctor prescribed Tamiflu, and except for a worried visit to the hospital emergency room Wednesday, Vega and her three boys are doing well.
""We're weathering the storm the best we can,'' she said.
Despite confusion and criticism over why the Thurgood Marshall school had to be closed twice for a proper cleaning, the Asbury Park School District and Asbury Park itself seemed to be in a state of relief Friday after being the first and so far only Monmouth County town to have an H1N1 cluster confirmed by health officials.
Statewide as of Friday, there were 75 confirmed individual cases with a probability of six more, according to state health officials.
""I think we did pretty darn good amongst the chaos,'' school board President Barbara Lesinski said Friday.
""I think the worldwide media hyped it (swine flu) up a lot,'' Lesinski said. ""So we were getting connected to people worldwide, but not getting the information and facts we needed.''
""In hindsight, maybe Monmouth County could have started sooner to be on the lookout,'' Lesinski said. ""I think the education may have come a little too late, and people got concerned.''
Michael Meddis, the Monmouth County health officer, said Friday that the county has held steady at 11 confirmed cases. His department is not testing for additional cases in Asbury Park after confirming the cluster of eight H1N1 cases, but is monitoring all reports and will test any new clusters that develop in any town. So far, none have been reported, Meddis said.
(2 of 2)
As expected, student absenteeism increased at the city's schools last week, with school officials saying it was due to children (and teachers) getting sick, but also from a number of students being kept at home by their parents so they would not be exposed.
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According to Acting School Superintendent James Parham, 214 of 457 Thurgood Marshall students were absent Friday. On Thursday, 220 were absent, on Tuesday, 120, and a week ago Thursday ? the day the 10 students were tested ? 60 were out.
""A lot of people have been out, and I think part of that is a precautionary measure,'' said school board member Garrett Giberson, the city's fire inspector.
""I understand where people are coming from and the feelings they have when someone doesn't know what they're dealing with,'' he said. ""The bottom line is to be educated on the subject at hand ? frequent hand washing, cover your mouth and nose during coughing and sneezing, and if you're feeling sick with fever and cough or sore throat, stay home and seek medical attention.''
Lesinski said she expects the Thurgood Marshall kids who have been sick to start returning to school on Monday.
Linda Francese, owner of Care On The Square, a private preschool with 120 infants to 5-year-olds, wanted the district to allow her to close because many of her children had siblings at Thurgood Marshall about four blocks away.
The city's private preschools are under contract with the school district to provide preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. They cannot close on their own without breaching their contracts.
Francese said that on Thursday her preschool had 26 children out, and on Friday, it had 30. Two children were being tested for swine flu, but she did not yet have a confirmed case.
""I still feel that we should have closed, maybe at least for a four-day weekend,'' Francese said, referring to the days after everyone was told about the confirmed swine flu cases on Tuesday.
""We're just starting to see signs of low-grade fever,'' said Esther Piekarski, owner of Alphabets Preschool, on Friday. ""Today's a very interesting day.''
She said 14 of her 59 preschoolers were out Friday, and that at least five of those children have been out all week because their parents don't want their kids exposed.
""I also heard a stomach virus is going around,'' Piekarski said. ""But I'm not panicking. Over the 26 years I've been here, I've seen so many possibilities for things to be spread. You get used to being cautious and get used to sanitizing. You don't want to get sick yourself so you really learn and get better at preventative measures. . . . This is not something new at all.''
http://www.app.com/article/20090531/...ses+upsetting+
By Nancy Shields ? COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU ? May 31, 2009
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* Recommend
* Print this page
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* Share
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* What?s this?
ASBURY PARK ? With the swine flu virus in New York City making headlines during the past month, Lisa Vega could see herself getting nervous about her three sons, ages 7, 5 and 3.
Advertisement
Then on Wednesday, her 5-year-old was one of seven children sent home from a Thurgood Marshall Elementary School kindergarten class with flu symptoms.
The next day, the 5-year-old and his 7-year-old brother were among 10 children tested for the H1N1 virus. Five days later, after a long Memorial Day weekend, the test results came back that her boys were among eight out of the 10 pupils who tested positive. Her 3-year-old tested negative.
""When they called me on Tuesday, my heart just dropped,'' Vega said. ""I made the one with the highest fever sleep next to me.''
Her doctor prescribed Tamiflu, and except for a worried visit to the hospital emergency room Wednesday, Vega and her three boys are doing well.
""We're weathering the storm the best we can,'' she said.
Despite confusion and criticism over why the Thurgood Marshall school had to be closed twice for a proper cleaning, the Asbury Park School District and Asbury Park itself seemed to be in a state of relief Friday after being the first and so far only Monmouth County town to have an H1N1 cluster confirmed by health officials.
Statewide as of Friday, there were 75 confirmed individual cases with a probability of six more, according to state health officials.
""I think we did pretty darn good amongst the chaos,'' school board President Barbara Lesinski said Friday.
""I think the worldwide media hyped it (swine flu) up a lot,'' Lesinski said. ""So we were getting connected to people worldwide, but not getting the information and facts we needed.''
""In hindsight, maybe Monmouth County could have started sooner to be on the lookout,'' Lesinski said. ""I think the education may have come a little too late, and people got concerned.''
Michael Meddis, the Monmouth County health officer, said Friday that the county has held steady at 11 confirmed cases. His department is not testing for additional cases in Asbury Park after confirming the cluster of eight H1N1 cases, but is monitoring all reports and will test any new clusters that develop in any town. So far, none have been reported, Meddis said.
(2 of 2)
As expected, student absenteeism increased at the city's schools last week, with school officials saying it was due to children (and teachers) getting sick, but also from a number of students being kept at home by their parents so they would not be exposed.
Advertisement
According to Acting School Superintendent James Parham, 214 of 457 Thurgood Marshall students were absent Friday. On Thursday, 220 were absent, on Tuesday, 120, and a week ago Thursday ? the day the 10 students were tested ? 60 were out.
""A lot of people have been out, and I think part of that is a precautionary measure,'' said school board member Garrett Giberson, the city's fire inspector.
""I understand where people are coming from and the feelings they have when someone doesn't know what they're dealing with,'' he said. ""The bottom line is to be educated on the subject at hand ? frequent hand washing, cover your mouth and nose during coughing and sneezing, and if you're feeling sick with fever and cough or sore throat, stay home and seek medical attention.''
Lesinski said she expects the Thurgood Marshall kids who have been sick to start returning to school on Monday.
Linda Francese, owner of Care On The Square, a private preschool with 120 infants to 5-year-olds, wanted the district to allow her to close because many of her children had siblings at Thurgood Marshall about four blocks away.
The city's private preschools are under contract with the school district to provide preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. They cannot close on their own without breaching their contracts.
Francese said that on Thursday her preschool had 26 children out, and on Friday, it had 30. Two children were being tested for swine flu, but she did not yet have a confirmed case.
""I still feel that we should have closed, maybe at least for a four-day weekend,'' Francese said, referring to the days after everyone was told about the confirmed swine flu cases on Tuesday.
""We're just starting to see signs of low-grade fever,'' said Esther Piekarski, owner of Alphabets Preschool, on Friday. ""Today's a very interesting day.''
She said 14 of her 59 preschoolers were out Friday, and that at least five of those children have been out all week because their parents don't want their kids exposed.
""I also heard a stomach virus is going around,'' Piekarski said. ""But I'm not panicking. Over the 26 years I've been here, I've seen so many possibilities for things to be spread. You get used to being cautious and get used to sanitizing. You don't want to get sick yourself so you really learn and get better at preventative measures. . . . This is not something new at all.''
http://www.app.com/article/20090531/...ses+upsetting+
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