Flu Information and Updates
10/28/2009 The county will be coming out with a free vaccination program available in schools. Use the links below for more information about the program and the vaccines' available. 9/24/2009 The district is required to report flu like illnesses of all employees and students to the Health Department as part of a confidential statewide H1N1 reporting and tracking system. This requires us to ask when you call out sick if the illness is due to flu or if the symptoms are flu like. We will also ask parents calling in for a student’s absence the same question. We need to report if the sick person has a temperature of 100 or more and if they have any one of the following symptoms: cough, sore throat or running nose. We will need to report this information daily once the flu season is upon us which is predicted to be very soon. Outbreaks have been reported in colleges in NYS that started a few weeks earlier than public schools. The letter sent home with students and to all faculty and staff this week is another effort to make everyone aware of the need to stay home if they have these symptoms. In case you did not see the letter it is attached. Thank you for your cooperation and stay healthy. 9/9/2009 The Hoosic Valley School District is preparing for a potential outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus during this school year. So far, with 2009 H1N1 flu, the largest number of cases has been in people between the ages of 5 and 24-years-old. Other segments of the population may also be affected including the district’s adult employees having an impact on district operations. The flu threat seems real and without causing undue alarm a plan is being designed to slow the transmission of the virus among the school population and also to keep the learning process moving ahead in case school must be closed. The learning process is to continue despite school closing or a high number of absentee’s. Details of how this will be accomplished using the districts website and other learning resources will be explained if the learning process is comprised for a significant number of students. The symptoms of H1N1 (swine) flu are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with H1N1 (swine) flu. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 (swine) flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions. District administrators will be in close contact with local and national health agencies regarding the extent and virulence of the flu and the districts response to an outbreak after consulting with national, state and local health and education officials. We will track the number of daily absences of students and adults and report to appropriate health agencies if the results are above the usual percentages. The districts website will serve as a vital link with parents and will contain information from various health agencies. The website will contain information regarding the flu and suggested precautions. Every employee will be provided information on the flu and what steps to take if they or a family member display flu-like symptoms. The following are steps school employee’s and parents can take to help minimize the chances of getting sick and spreading the flu to others:
Students, staff, and their families must take personal responsibility for helping to slow the spread of the virus by practicing these steps and to keep from getting sick with flu and protect others.
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Communications and Links: Information on school based vaccination clinics
For information on the H1N1 (swine flu) virus go to the Center for Disease Control website: |
