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Illness Clears Out Elementary School, Rome, Georgia

MHSC

MHSC

Senior Moderator
Illness Clears Out Elementary School

POSTED: 6:19 am EST November 15, 2006
<!--startindex-->ROME, Ga. -- A mysterious illness has hit a Floyd County elementary school leaving hallways, classrooms and the school yard nearly empty.Midway Primary School remains open, but 130 of its 400 students stayed home Tuesday.Officials say many of the students are suffering from flu-like symptoms, but some parents kept their children out of school to keep them from getting sick.Floyd County School Superintendent Kelly Hanson says they have checked the school cafeteria to make sure its safe. He says school officials disinfected desks and doorknobs at the school."When we were informed of the flu like symptoms, we immediately contacted the health department. We have been and will continue to follow their directions until the matter is resolved," he told Channel 2 Action News.The school is staying open, but parents are urged to keep their children home if they develop any flu-like symptoms.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10324320/detail.html
 
Re: Illness Clears Out Elementary School, Rome, Georgia

From the local newspaper:

One-third of Midway Primary students ill


Parents are urged to keep children with any symptoms home while the Health Department investigates.
11/15/06
By Mike Gellatly, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
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Almost one-third of Midway Primary?s students were sent home or kept home after developing symptoms similar to a stomach virus Monday and Tuesday.

Midway Principal Lauren Abrams said 88 students were out Monday, and about 30 to 40 more were sent home after they developed symptoms Tuesday. Midway has a student population of just fewer than 400 pre-K through third-grade students.

?We have got some children out sick. We think it?s just viral,? she said Tuesday. ?We are working with the Board of Education, the Health Department and Epidemiology.?

The Floyd County Health Department was called in Tuesday to investigate.

?This is a hot investigation. It is simply too early to know the cause,? said Logan Boss, spokesman for the Health Department. ?It could be flu; it could be a stomach virus. Certain diseases can go through a population of children at a very quick rate. We will start our investigation by talking to parents of sick children and take it from there.?

On Tuesday, Boss said, six people were investigating the situation from the epidemiology and other departments.

Although about one-third of the students were affected, no teachers have become sick, according to Abrams.

?At this point we plan to continue school as normal,? she said. ?Our staff is in good shape, and we are good to go.?

Though school will continue, both Abrams and the health department have urged parents of kids with any symptoms to keep their children at home until the source of the problem is discovered.

Students were sent home with this information in a letter Monday afternoon. Abrams said all the parental contact she had been involved in had been very cooperative and positive.

Haley Crider, a spokeswoman for Floyd Medical Center, said emergency workers have seen an increase in people with stomach viruses recently but could not say if there was any contact with children from the Midway district. The school is off Rockmart Highway south of Rome.
 
Re: Illness Clears Out Elementary School, Rome, Georgia

<table bgcolor="white" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="450"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2">[FONT=Verdana,Arial]206 out Thursday at Midway: Some ? not all ? kids have flu [/FONT]</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" height="4">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> [FONT=Verdana,Arial] [FONT=Verdana,Arial]11/17/06[/FONT]
By Mike Gellatly, Rome News-Tribune staff writer

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial] <table align="top" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><caption align="bottom">[FONT=Verdana,Arial]Midway Primary kindergartners put puzzles together in class Thursday. Only seven students in this class of 17 were at school. By Ryan Smith / RN-T[/FONT]</caption><tbody><tr><td>
sickmidway1.jpg
</td></tr></tbody></table> [FONT=Verdana,Arial] ... ...Health officials said preliminary tests show some of the stricken Midway Primary School students appear to have a strain of seasonal flu, but others do not.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]An illness with symptoms that initially resembled a stomach virus kept 206 students and four adults out of school Thursday ? up from 88 students when the outbreak started Monday. School officials said the number of absentees may not equal the number of sick children. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Some parents may have simply chosen not to send their kids to school, they said.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Midway Principal Lauren Abrams said that outside of the confirmed cases of flu, they also have kids with strep throat.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Derisa Newport?s 6-year-old son, Peyton, tested negative for strep throat on Monday, but a second test three days later came back positive, she said. ?It took a few days for it to even show,? Newport said Thursday, noting that her 4-year-old now has similar symptoms. ?Seth woke up this morning with the same thing ? nausea<table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><caption align="bottom">[FONT=Verdana,Arial]Faith Melear, Midway Primary nurse, takes the temperature of first-grader Ravel Ely at school Thursday. By Ryan Smith / RN-T[/FONT]</caption><tbody><tr><td>
sickmidway2.jpg
</td></tr></tbody></table>, high fever, headache. His strep test today was negative, but I feel like, in three or four days, it will come out positive.?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Newport said the bug could have been spread at a school hoedown a week ago, but she doesn?t blame school administrators. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]?I don?t feel like it?s anything to do with the school. They?re wonderful,? she said. ?I think somebody just came in sick.?[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]While most of the students are recuperating at home, an unidentified kindergartner with trouble breathing was airlifted Thursday to T.C. Thompson Children?s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Logan Boss, spokesman for Northwest Georgia Public Health, said the child ? who had no previous history of respiratory illness or asthma ? has been placed on a ventilator.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Boss said rapid flu tests have identified cases of Influenza B in some students, but the airlifted child tested negative for the strain.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]The flu has not been identified as the cause of the Midway outbreak, but Boss said this is a prime time of year for the virus.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]?If a child is sick, carefully monitor them,? he said. ?If they develop a fever which worsens or they have breathing difficulties, get them to a physician.?[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Health officials hope to have pinned down the exact cause of the illness by next week, Boss said. Doctors at Harbin Clinic are helping with the diagnostic effort.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]At the school, efforts to stamp out the spread of the illness with germ control are a top priority. Children with any symptoms are being advised to stay home.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Students are washing their hands more regularly; all flat surfaces are being wiped down with a diluted bleach solution; and communal facilities, including toilets and drinking fountains, are being double-cleaned, Abrams said.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Arial][FONT=Verdana,Arial]Staff writer Diane Wagner contributed to this report. [/FONT][/FONT]


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