Commonground
Senior Moderator
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 By PATRICK JOHNSON and STAN FREEMAN
EAST LONGMEADOW - The town Board of Selectmen voted at an emergency meeting Tuesday night to close Meadowbrook Elementary School for the remainder of the week, beginning today, because of an alarming number of children coming down with flu-like symptoms.
Selectmen, in their capacity as the Board of Health, voted unanimously 2-0 in favor of the emergency shut down. The move had been recommended by Health Inspector Fred Kowal and Superintendent of Schools Edward W. Costa.
East Longmeadow becomes the first community in Western Massachusetts and only the second in the state to take such an action to contain the spread of flu in recent weeks. Grafton officials closed that community's high school on Friday, and will evaluate whether to reopen the school today.
Costa said a total of 141 students, or 22 percent of the student body, have exhibited flu-like symptoms. These include fever, sore throat and nausea.
While there has been concern nationally about the spread of the H1N1 virus, also called swine flu, officials cautioned that none of the flu cases in East Longmeadow have been determined to be that particular strain.
"We're not saying it's H1N1," he said. "At this point all flu is to be treated the same." The percentage of sick students at Meadowbrook is about twice as high as any of the town's four other schools, Costa said.
Mountainview Elementary School was tallied at 12 percent, followed by Mapleshade Elementary with 11 percent, East Longmeadow High School with 10 percent and Birchland Middle School at 8 percent, he said.
H1N1 is spread primarily through close contact, such as children sitting in the same classroom, Costa said.
The three-day closure and two weekend days means five straight days of no contact among students, which may be enough to break the cycle, he said.
If other schools see similar jumps in ill students, the board may have to schedule more emergency meetings, Selectman James Driscoll said.
Meadowbrook serves pre-school through grade 2. Costa said one reason the outbreak is so dramatic there may be that younger children are not as practiced with personal hygiene, such as washing their hands, as are the older grades.
Kowal ordered the school closed Tuesday afternoon after meeting with Costa. As required by law, the health board had to convene an emergency meeting to determine how long the school would be closed.
Selectman Enrico J. Villamaimo, who was in Boston, initially was patched in via a conference call, but the call was somehow disconnected before the vote.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, the H1N1 virus is now widespread in Massachusetts. New England was the last region of the country where the virus reached this level of activity, falling into that category only last week.
-snip-
http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1256714468310770.xml&coll=1
EAST LONGMEADOW - The town Board of Selectmen voted at an emergency meeting Tuesday night to close Meadowbrook Elementary School for the remainder of the week, beginning today, because of an alarming number of children coming down with flu-like symptoms.
Selectmen, in their capacity as the Board of Health, voted unanimously 2-0 in favor of the emergency shut down. The move had been recommended by Health Inspector Fred Kowal and Superintendent of Schools Edward W. Costa.
East Longmeadow becomes the first community in Western Massachusetts and only the second in the state to take such an action to contain the spread of flu in recent weeks. Grafton officials closed that community's high school on Friday, and will evaluate whether to reopen the school today.
Costa said a total of 141 students, or 22 percent of the student body, have exhibited flu-like symptoms. These include fever, sore throat and nausea.
While there has been concern nationally about the spread of the H1N1 virus, also called swine flu, officials cautioned that none of the flu cases in East Longmeadow have been determined to be that particular strain.
"We're not saying it's H1N1," he said. "At this point all flu is to be treated the same." The percentage of sick students at Meadowbrook is about twice as high as any of the town's four other schools, Costa said.
Mountainview Elementary School was tallied at 12 percent, followed by Mapleshade Elementary with 11 percent, East Longmeadow High School with 10 percent and Birchland Middle School at 8 percent, he said.
H1N1 is spread primarily through close contact, such as children sitting in the same classroom, Costa said.
The three-day closure and two weekend days means five straight days of no contact among students, which may be enough to break the cycle, he said.
If other schools see similar jumps in ill students, the board may have to schedule more emergency meetings, Selectman James Driscoll said.
Meadowbrook serves pre-school through grade 2. Costa said one reason the outbreak is so dramatic there may be that younger children are not as practiced with personal hygiene, such as washing their hands, as are the older grades.
Kowal ordered the school closed Tuesday afternoon after meeting with Costa. As required by law, the health board had to convene an emergency meeting to determine how long the school would be closed.
Selectman Enrico J. Villamaimo, who was in Boston, initially was patched in via a conference call, but the call was somehow disconnected before the vote.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control, the H1N1 virus is now widespread in Massachusetts. New England was the last region of the country where the virus reached this level of activity, falling into that category only last week.
-snip-
http://www.masslive.com/metrowest/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1256714468310770.xml&coll=1