Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

UT: Three Lehi schools report swine flu cases

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • UT: Three Lehi schools report swine flu cases

    Source: http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/309142/17/

    Sunday, 17 May 2009
    Three Lehi schools report swine flu cases
    Cathy Allred - Daily Herald

    Martin Miranda of Lehi sent a tweet at noon Friday that the swine flu had arrived at his high school. Two other Lehi schools also have had students with the flu confirmed.
    "Haha! The Influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) got to my school ... Woah!" Martin posted on Twitter, a micro-blogging and social networking tool.

    "Everybody was kind of like they were more concerned about who it was than why or where it was," the Pioneer sophomore said during a phone interview Saturday. "They were more worried about who the person was and if they were OK."

    Along with about 2,400 other Lehi High School students, Martin received a form letter signed by Principal Chuck Bearce about the case, with information on the flu and why school would not be closed.

    "Please remember to watch for symptoms with your own children. If they are not feeling well, they should not come to school," reads part of the letter. "Be assured that the health and well-being of our students and employees is a top priority and we are doing everything possible to address the situation."

    Other school administrators from Fox Hollow and Lehi elementary schools sent out the form letter on May 11 telling parents that cases were confirmed in their schools as well. District maintenance staff was sent to each school to sanitize and clean the school.


    Utah County Health Department spokesman Lance Madigan said he was not as worried about the flu reported at Lehi Elementary, where his son JJ attends first grade, as he was about the cold JJ had.

    "We were more concerned yesterday that he had his own cough than that he was going to catch something at school," he said, adding that the most significant symptoms for the Novel Influenza A H1N1 virus were fever, fatigue and body aches. A sore throat, cough, runny nose, diarrhea and vomiting are additional symptoms.

    "It's not fun, it's not comfortable, but it's certainly not life-threatening to most people," he said. "Treat it the same as you would flu in summer and winter."

    Two weeks ago, the Federal Center of Disease Control and Prevention changed its stance on containment of the virus and now advises keeping schools open and excluding infected students until they were no longer contagious.

    Utah State and local health departments also decided early not to stigmatize communities by releasing specific location data, Madigan said.


    ? Cathy Allred can be reached at 801-376-6422, heraldextra@digis.netThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or follow her on Twitter at "TodayinLehi."
Working...
X