Arizona schools gear up for flu outbreaks
Fox11AZ.com
11:12 AM MST on Monday, August 17, 2009
PHOENIX (AP) -- Health officials in Arizona have given school districts detailed guidance on how to deal with swine flu outbreaks this fall and mass vaccinations of students are being planned in many areas.
The 10-page guidance memo provided to districts and charter schools by the state Education Department outlines ways to prepare for, respond to and recover from a pandemic.
Included are recommendations for emergency response plans, school closure and recovery plans, continuing education of students when they're kept out of school for long periods and other detailed instructions.
In Maricopa County, public health officials are working with school districts to help plan mass flu vaccination clinics and crafting policies for isolating students showing flu symptoms.
A swine flu vaccine isn't expected to be available for use until mid-October, meaning there could be outbreaks earlier.
Most districts will probably use private companies to set up vaccination clinics, said Dr. Bob England, who heads the Maricopa County Health Department. That's the only efficient way to get clinics up and running for the more than 600,000 public school students and more than 1 million people under 18 in the county that includes Phoenix and its suburbs.
One of the largest districts in Arizona, Mesa Public Schools, has 69,000 students and 10,500 staff members at its 87 schools.
The plan at Mesa is to work with the city's fire department to have a vaccination clinic at each school whose principal signs on to the program, said Kathy Bareiss, director of community relations. All will be strongly encouraged to do so. The fire department already runs immunization programs and can handle the volume.
Students who get sick at school will be isolated while their parents are called to come pick them up, and they'll need to be fever-free without taking Tylenol or other medication for 24 hours before returning to school, Bareiss said.
That may be difficult at schools that aren't prepared, England said.
Only students and staff will be included initially in Mesa, Bareiss said; that's because the shots will be free for those under 18 and staff insurance will cover their shots.
The private vaccination clinics set up at other districts may provide shots for adults, England said. Schools will likely not be closed unless so many students or staff are sickened that it makes no sense to keep classes going - something that prompted at least one of several closures in the Phoenix area when the swine flu first hit this spring. There may be exceptions, such as if a school has a large number of medically fragile students.
The detailed set of guidelines put out by the Education Department also notes that in a severe pandemic schools could be closed for six to 12 weeks. Because state school funding is tied to daily attendance, the department is allowing districts to apply for a waiver of those rules if they have high absentee rates because of the flu.
That will eliminate any disincentive they may have not to be aggressive in sending home students who appear ill, England said.
Getting large numbers of students vaccinated is the most critical component, England said
"This is one time where I'm hoping we get a big demand," England said. "If we can get 80 percent of the schoolchildren vaccinated, we can cut the (overall) number of flu illnesses by 90 percent."
That estimate is based on the fact that children are the most prolific spreaders of the disease, bringing it back home and spreading it in the community.
? 2009 The Associated Press.
Fox11AZ.com
11:12 AM MST on Monday, August 17, 2009
PHOENIX (AP) -- Health officials in Arizona have given school districts detailed guidance on how to deal with swine flu outbreaks this fall and mass vaccinations of students are being planned in many areas.
The 10-page guidance memo provided to districts and charter schools by the state Education Department outlines ways to prepare for, respond to and recover from a pandemic.
Included are recommendations for emergency response plans, school closure and recovery plans, continuing education of students when they're kept out of school for long periods and other detailed instructions.
In Maricopa County, public health officials are working with school districts to help plan mass flu vaccination clinics and crafting policies for isolating students showing flu symptoms.
A swine flu vaccine isn't expected to be available for use until mid-October, meaning there could be outbreaks earlier.
Most districts will probably use private companies to set up vaccination clinics, said Dr. Bob England, who heads the Maricopa County Health Department. That's the only efficient way to get clinics up and running for the more than 600,000 public school students and more than 1 million people under 18 in the county that includes Phoenix and its suburbs.
One of the largest districts in Arizona, Mesa Public Schools, has 69,000 students and 10,500 staff members at its 87 schools.
The plan at Mesa is to work with the city's fire department to have a vaccination clinic at each school whose principal signs on to the program, said Kathy Bareiss, director of community relations. All will be strongly encouraged to do so. The fire department already runs immunization programs and can handle the volume.
Students who get sick at school will be isolated while their parents are called to come pick them up, and they'll need to be fever-free without taking Tylenol or other medication for 24 hours before returning to school, Bareiss said.
That may be difficult at schools that aren't prepared, England said.
Only students and staff will be included initially in Mesa, Bareiss said; that's because the shots will be free for those under 18 and staff insurance will cover their shots.
The private vaccination clinics set up at other districts may provide shots for adults, England said. Schools will likely not be closed unless so many students or staff are sickened that it makes no sense to keep classes going - something that prompted at least one of several closures in the Phoenix area when the swine flu first hit this spring. There may be exceptions, such as if a school has a large number of medically fragile students.
The detailed set of guidelines put out by the Education Department also notes that in a severe pandemic schools could be closed for six to 12 weeks. Because state school funding is tied to daily attendance, the department is allowing districts to apply for a waiver of those rules if they have high absentee rates because of the flu.
That will eliminate any disincentive they may have not to be aggressive in sending home students who appear ill, England said.
Getting large numbers of students vaccinated is the most critical component, England said
"This is one time where I'm hoping we get a big demand," England said. "If we can get 80 percent of the schoolchildren vaccinated, we can cut the (overall) number of flu illnesses by 90 percent."
That estimate is based on the fact that children are the most prolific spreaders of the disease, bringing it back home and spreading it in the community.
? 2009 The Associated Press.