Published: September 18, 2009 11:16 pm      

Flu cases high at most area districts

Flu season or not, there are a growing number of people taking ill with flu-like symptoms in recent weeks at work and in schools.

With the growing threat of the H1N1, or Swine Flu as it has become known, health experts are preaching precaution as a deterrent against the spread of all flu-like symptoms.

Several school districts have noticed a spike in student absences, but none have received official confirmation of Swine Flu within their respective district.

“Flu cases aren’t differentiated this year, and they are all being treated the same,” said Susan Bayliss, RN and director of health services for LC-M CISD. “Doctors aren’t sending the results to Austin for confirmation of H1N1 — we probably do have some H1N1 cases but they are only suspected, not state confirmed.”

Bayliss said all students who are sick are responding well to anti-virals and the district has not had any problems with students or staff not responding to medications.

The LC-M school district follows the directives of the Texas Department of State Health Services, the local UTMB clinic and Dr. Parker, the district’s medical director.

“We are stressing good health habits, which includes handwashing and follow up with family doctors if the student feels bad or has fever,” Bayliss added. “We also encourage folks not to go to school or work if they have fever.”

Philip Welch, Orangefield ISD superintendent, said the district has suffered a larger than expected number of student absences as well recently.

According to Welch, the district’s overall attendance rate was at 92.4 percent on Monday, but had increased to 94.7 percent overall on Thursday. Orangefield High School had a low attendance rate of 88.5 percent on Monday, but it had increased to 92.7 percent by Thursday.

“Most of the kids who are sick do have flu-like symptoms,” Welch said. “We are just telling them to stay at home if they have fever and let it run its course. It’s usually January or February before we see flu cases like this where our attendance dips so much.”

Sally Andrews, director of community relations for Vidor ISD, said the district does currently have students absent from class with flu like symptoms, but that attendance has not been affected as much as other districts yet.

“We’ve had kids with flu-like symptoms since the beginning of the school year,” Andrews added. “So it may be behind us compared to others. We have not had any reported cases of H1N1 from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), so we really won’t know if a child has Swine Flu unless the parents tell us.”

Andrews said school district nurses are sending children home who have fever and are asking parents to keep them home until the fever has passed and the child is no longer ill.

Dr. O. Taylor Collins, West Orange-Cove CISD superintendent, said his district is following the same policy.

“We are encouraging parents to keep children home if they have a fever,” he said. “The nurses are sending children home who also have a fever once we contact their parents. It seems the younger children are more apt to get this right now, but we want to be safe and make sure all of our children are well.”

Collins said the “magic” number the state looks at before closing a school district due to student absences is 85 percent.

“If we hit 85 percent or below for district attendance, then we would either need to close the school district for certain period of time or seek a low attendance waiver,” Collins added.

Attendance on Thursday at North Early Learning Center was at 86 percent, while Anderson and Oates Elementaries were at 91 percent and 90 percent, respectively.

West Orange-Stark Middle School attendance was at 96 percent on Thursday, while, at West Orange-Stark High School, 89 percent of students were in class on Wednesday which was the last figure immediately available.