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Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

H

HenryN

Retired
Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

By Richard Connelly in Edumacation, Environment
Thursday, May. 14 2009 @ 2:55PM

The hallways are pretty empty today at Travis Elementary near the Woodland Heights. Of the 712 students there, 242 are out sick.

It can't be a Senior Skip Day, so what is up, HISD?

"Twenty-six additional students at Travis were sent home sick today bringing the total to 242," spokesman Norm Uhl tells us. "We are working closely with the City Health Department which has identified seven cases of type A (REGULAR) flu. It is suspected, however, that the majority of the students are being affected by some sort of viral illness. We do not know how many of the 242 are out due to parental concern and we understand that."

It appears that some kids have gotten the regular flu, and some parents have gotten the OHMYGOD IT'S SWINE FLU!!!! hype disease.

"I was just at the school and things at the clinic were slowing down, so we hope we are turning the corner on this," Uhl says.

Also important: "Absences during this period will not count against perfect attendance awards."

Thank God for that.

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2009/05/travis_elementary_gets_hit_wit.php
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

242 Kids Absent From
Elem. School

Updated: Thursday, 14 May 2009, 2:56 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 14 May 2009, 1:25 PM CDT

DOUG DELONY

HOUSTON - A spokesman for the Houston Independent School district says nearly 250 students were missing from school the day after dozens of kids were sent home due to a stomach virus.
On Wednesday, 86 kids at Travis Elementary School were exhibiting stomach virus symptoms, forcing them to go home. By Thursday morning, officials reported 216 students were missing, and by mid-afternoon, they later increased the absentee number to 242.
School officials say there is no way to know how many of the 216 students out on Thursday were due to illness or parental concern.
District officials contacted the Houston Health Department, which ruled out the possibility of the swine flu. However, health officials identified seven cases of Type A , the regular seasonal flu.
A total of 712 students are enrolled in the school.


http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/090514_kids_absent_elementary_school
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Looking at google flu trends it indicates that seasonal flu in the Houston area is minimal and the indication of a finging of H1N1 and stomach illness seems curious.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Skatman said:
Looking at google flu trends it indicates that seasonal flu in the Houston area is minimal and the indication of a finging of H1N1 and stomach illness seems curious.
Click to expand...
Yes, seasonal flu season is over. 7 with influenza A does NOT exclude swine H1N1. In fact, that is exactly the result FOR swine flu.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Illness strikes 242 students at HISD?s Travis Elementary
By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE HOUSTON CHRONICLE
May 14, 2009, 7:45PM


One-third of Travis Elementary School pupil missed school Thursday because of a mysterious illness, leaving Houston ISD and city officials scrambling to diagnose the cause.

They suspect a virus is behind the fevers, headaches and stomachaches that sidelined 242 children, including about 80 percent of the third grade at the Heights neighborhood school.

That?s a sharp increase from the 86 students who stayed home sick Wednesday, when educators were forced to cancel an extensive third-grade field trip.

?I felt like really bad,? said 8-year-old Luke Morrison, who was too sick to attempt the much-anticipated trip. ?I just was scared. I started crying.?

Luke was diagnosed Thursday with Influenza A, a common strain of the flu. While that strain includes the swine flu, officials said the rapid spread and sudden onset of this outbreak suggest it isn?t. The swine flu scare closed the schools of more than 300,000 Texas students this month.

Travis mother Pen Morrison said this is the sickest she?s seen her little boy.

?He?s never spent the whole day in bed before,? she said. ?He doesn?t feel like doing anything.?

HISD officials said they?re trying to help curb the spread of the illness by ramping up cleaning efforts on campus. They?re asking sick children to stay home until they?re fever-free for at least 24 hours and encouraging healthy children to wash their hands frequently.

?We?re wiping down common areas, doorknobs and walls,? spokesman Norm Uhl said. ?We hope we are turning the corner on this.?

Health officials said they haven?t ruled out environmental factors or even swine flu yet. They doubt the cause was food poisoning, but said they?re still investigating that possibility, as well as others.

?We?re working on the epidemiological profile. Until we can make a little more progress on that, we?re all just guessing,? said Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city of Houston?s health department.

It?s possible that not all the children are suffering from the same illness. It?s also likely that many parents are keeping healthy children home, Barton said.

While health officials initially asked schools to close for up to two weeks once they confirmed a case of the swine flu, Travis will likely stay open unless too many children or teachers are absent to make holding class practical or possible, officials said.

?We?re not there yet,? Barton said.

Rachel Dvoretzky, whose 9-year-old son stayed home sick Thursday, applauded the way school and city officials are handling the outbreak, especially on the heels of the swine flu scare.

?It?s just a coincidence,? she said. ?We?re all in communication. Nobody?s really panicked. We?re just trying to find out what?s up with our kids.?
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Assuming they test any of these, at the rate Texas has been going, we'll find out next month. :(
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Local reporting on this is quite sloppy. I was just watching Channel 11 News and they had some "interesting" statements. They said that some number of students were testing positive for seasonal influenza but they don't suspect swine flu in any of the cases. Huh? That many seasonal flu cases in one school this late in the year? At least some reports do say they aren't ruling swine out, but the same report says that it is spreading so fast it can't be swine flu, has to be seasonal flu. Sadly too many people still rely on TV news. :( Not that newspapers are any better...
 
Last edited:
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

wotan said:
Local reporting on this is quite sloppy. I was just watching Channel 11 News and they had some "interesting" statements. They said that some number of students were testing positive for seasonal influenza but they don't suspect swine flu in any of the cases. Huh? That many seasonal flu cases in one school this late in the year? At least some reports do say they aren't ruling swine out, but the same report says that it is spreading so fast it can't be swine flu, has to be seasonal flu. Sadly too many people still rely on TV news. :( Not that newspapers are any better...
Click to expand...
Confusion with influenza A (which can be seasonal OR swine) and calling it seasonal, is common.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

CNBC (Robert Brazell sp?) said it was likely swine.
CNBC also cover NYC (they are starting to wake up).
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- More than 200 students were absent from an HISD elementary school yesterday, but only a handful of those cases involved sick children.

Many parents kept their kids home from Travis elementary school in the Heights after the city health department says regular flu and some other sort of viral illness caused 86 children to be sick.
Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city of Houston's health department, said seven students tested positive for Influenza A, a common form of the flu.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6811705
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

niman said:
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- More than 200 students were absent from an HISD elementary school yesterday, but only a handful of those cases involved sick children.

Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city of Houston's health department, said seven students tested positive for Influenza A, a common form of the flu.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6811705
Click to expand...
Unclear is the reporter is lost or spokeswoman is lost, but swine H1N1 IS influenza A.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

niman said:
Unclear is the reporter is lost or spokeswoman is lost, but swine H1N1 IS influenza A.
Click to expand...
Unclear is the reporter is lost or spokeswoman is lost, but swine H1N1 IS influenza A.
Click to expand...

I think it is the school, all of the local reporting I have seen so far says the same thing, seasonal type A.

And I just found out the one of my co-workers has a kid sick with GI problems. He's in a much different area of the city.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

wotan said:
I think it is the school, all of the local reporting I have seen so far says the same thing, seasonal type A.

And I just found out the one of my co-workers has a kid sick with GI problems. He's in a much different area of the city.
Click to expand...
CNBC just repeated that they were virtually certain its swine flu.

Gatsro problems have been associated with swine flu, and swine flu will give a positive for influenza A. The distinction cones with subtyping. If it is seasonal, the reports should say it is human H1N1 or H3N2. If they just say infleunza A, the report is HIGHLY suspect.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

CNBC teaser indicates students at travis elementary have swine flu.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

Two cases of swine flu confirmed at Travis Elementary; 376 out sick

10:37 AM CDT on Friday, May 15, 2009

KHOU.com staff report & Associated Press

HOUSTON -- At least two of the hundreds of Travis Elementary students out sick this week have swine flu, according to an HISD spokesperson.

Kathy Barton, spokeswoman for the city of Houston?s health department, said seven students tested positive for Influenza A, a common form of the flu.

Further tests are pending to determine if those kids also have swine flu, which is one type of Influenza A.

HISD reported 376 Travis students are out today out of a total of 712.

It's not clear how many of those students are actually showing symptoms.

?There were some that were held out of school for fear of them getting sick. We don?t know what combination we are working with,? Barton said.

Officials suspect a virus has caused the fevers, headaches and stomachaches that prompted Travis Elementary School students to miss class Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported. They found no evidence of a food-borne illness.

Barton said the illness initially affected third-graders at the school but had spread to other grades and to employees. She did not know how many members of the staff were sick.

Children should remain at home until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours, said Norm Uhl, a spokesman for the Houston Independent School District.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/education/stories/khou090515_mh_travis-elementary.65eb30f.html
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

wotan said:
I think it is the school, all of the local reporting I have seen so far says the same thing, seasonal type A.

And I just found out the one of my co-workers has a kid sick with GI problems. He's in a much different area of the city.
Click to expand...
Seasonal type A just means the reporter is clueless, because swine H1N1 IS influenza A (and levels of seasonal flu at this time of the year are very low).

Reporting is well into the ABYSMAL category.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

niman said:
Seasonal type A just means the reporter is clueless, because swine H1N1 IS influenza A (and levels of seasonal flu at this time of the year are very low).

Reporting is well into the ABYSMAL category.
Click to expand...


Yes, there is a reason why I don't watch TV news anymore. Or read the local rag. But, up until today, the local reporting has all been the same, seasonal flu type A with swine flu being considered unlikely.

Now, it seems they are back peddling.
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

#1:
Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

By Richard Connelly in Edumacation, Environment
Thursday, May. 14 2009 @ 2:55PM
...
It appears that some kids have gotten the regular flu, and some parents have gotten the OHMYGOD IT'S SWINE FLU!!!! hype disease.
...
Click to expand...
An quite Copernicus rotation for the reporter knowledge in 24 hours ... :rolleyes:

Also the:
#4: ""We're not there yet", ... said"

rotated into "We are there" ...
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

wotan said:
Yes, there is a reason why I don't watch TV news anymore. Or read the local rag. But, up until today, the local reporting has all been the same, seasonal flu type A with swine flu being considered unlikely.

Now, it seems they are back peddling.
Click to expand...
Texas is loaded with swine flu

<a rel="nofollow" href="http://flutracker.rhiza.com">Maps</a>
 
Re: Travis Elementary Gets Hit With A Wave Of...Something

And the state is slowly realizing that. We ought to have a lot more given the huge amount of border traffic.

So what doesn't the map list all three deaths in Texas?
 
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