Not letting my kid go to school

JazzyRN · May 2, 2009

i think you should let her go to school

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · May 2, 2009

my school district is not closed but the major ones around me are...i thought briefly about keeping them out then decided against it..first i cant justify keeping them home just because the neighboring counties shut down...kids have to be in school x amount of time before the sheriff knocks on the door next thing you know you are standing in front of a judge...i personally think this thing has been blown out of the water and in reality would we react this way with a regular flu pandemic..seriously. we have had all but 5 or 6 missing out of classes during severe flu season and there was never a word mentioned about closing up shop....

then there is the issue with are you going to keep your kid out a week then return them to the same situation ..could be swine flu heaven by then...i am keeping mine in and monitoring the situation day by day....

hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN · May 2, 2009

I've heard people that say this is being overreacted
that even the simple flu bug kills people every year and nothing is shut down
then. Any thoughts?

By estimates, 13,000 people in the U.S. have died due to complications from normal influenza so far this year. Nothing was ever shut down. The virus is endemic-- something that far surpasses a pandemic.

So yes, preventing your child from going to school so that she won't be affected a virus that has no symptoms worse than the normal flu when there's no indication anyone she's been in contact with has this strain would be overreacting, in my books.

You might as well keep her locked inside due to the exponentially higher risk of sustaining injuries in a motor vehicle accident compared to this H1N1 strain.

llg, PhD, RN · May 2, 2009

I agree with the others. Yes, it makes sense to do a few common sense things, such as reminding people to wash their hands, avoiding unnecessary contact with large groups of people, etc. However, it seems premature/excessive to me to start sacrificing really important things (such as your child's education or going to work) at this point.

As others have said, there are far more dangerous things out there -- and we don't let them stop us from living our lives. If the flu evolves into a more deadly form ... or the spread of the disease intensifies, then will be the time to take additional precautions.

elkpark · May 2, 2009

ITA with the other posters.

indigo girl · May 4, 2009

H1N1: Why Do Schools Close, And When Do They Open?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/2/727192/-H1N1:-Why-Do-Schools-Close,-And-When-Do-They-Open

...there are a lot of things that really need explaining:
what a pandemic is (based on spread, not severity)
why there are school closures with only a handful of cases
why this appears to be no worse than seasonal flu - yet isn't seasonal flu and has to be treated differently
why testing isn't instantly available (needs sophisticated PH lab testing)
why not everyone needs tamiflu even though tamiflu "works" (mild flu does not need treatment, regardless of seasonal or swine designation)
So let's tackle some of those difficult points, starting with school closure.
The rationale for school closure was developed in concert with the idea that a pandemic means a widespread geographic range-for the WHO, it has got to be on two continents:
You can wash you hands, wear a mask, telecommute... use social distancing (stay away from each other), and the key to that is kids (the humans who don't wash their hands.) Closing schools early before disease spreads is a community mitigation technique that has to be initiated before there is already spread underway. Typically, schools close between 7-30% ill. It is extremely atypical to ask them to close at anywhere near 1% ill, but that's what's needed to reduce spread. Wait any longer and it's too late to make a difference.
...it's likely that even a mild pandemic will kill more people than an average seasonal flu. That's what makes it different than seasonal flu even when it's described as "mild". In this context, "mild" means only 3-10x the amount of deaths as usual. And it could turn out to be more.
But when you don't know, in the beginning, how things are sorting themselves out then you err on the side of caution. You can always pull back. And the degree of disease and death will dictate how long the schools close for. The more severe the pandemic, the longer the schools will stay closed.

Equinox_93 · May 4, 2009

Our major school district has shut down, but my daughter goes to school
in a suburb which has not closed down.
I'm not letting her go to school this week. I feel kind of
silly, but to me, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm picking up makeup
work so she won't fall behind. I just hope I'm doing the right thing.
They have even closed down weekend activities around town. Some people'
are really mad about that. I've heard people that say this is being overreacted
that even the simple flu bug kills people every year and nothing is shut down
then. Any thoughts?

I think you're grossly overreacting. From reports, Mexico has seen a hundred or so deaths, the US- one. Singular. Death. I think that if this thing mutates and we start seeing more deaths? OK- sure. But right now? I think this is huge over reaction.

BabyLady, BSN, RN · May 4, 2009

Our major school district has shut down, but my daughter goes to school
in a suburb which has not closed down.
I'm not letting her go to school this week. I feel kind of
silly, but to me, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm picking up makeup
work so she won't fall behind. I just hope I'm doing the right thing.
They have even closed down weekend activities around town. Some people'
are really mad about that. I've heard people that say this is being overreacted
that even the simple flu bug kills people every year and nothing is shut down
then. Any thoughts?

Read one of my previous posts on it.

I have heard of school systems shutting down when there are no cases of the swine flu around their area.

Swine flu has been around since the early part of the century and major outbreaks have occurred several times. The virus is never exactly duplicated when it re-appears.

I saw something on CNN news the other day (the scroll at the bottom of the screen when you watch it) that out of all the deaths from this disease in Mexico, when you discounted all the deaths that happened in the slums...where people were living in unsanitary and cramped conditions and had little or no access to health care...that the "adjusted" number of deaths was less than 15.

The public needs to be informed, but why don't they make a big deal out of people dying by the thousands of flu EVERY year instead of this particular strain?

waitingforthedream · May 4, 2009

My district in Jersey just shut the doors of my daughters school . Two probable cases, guess I better get creative with things to do since it is going to rain all week. OMG, what to do??? I know that they are doing this out of precaution, and I appreciate the fact that they are attempting to stop this thing in its track. My daughter does have asthma, so yes I would keep her home even if they did not close. But if she had no underlying disease then she would be going to school.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · May 4, 2009

I think you should enjoy your week with your daughter and do something fun and different. Real life and family time is education and fun!

GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN · May 4, 2009

She can learn from home. I don't see the big deal. If it were in my area, I would keep my kids home, too. (if they were in school.) DS ends up super sick with even just a cold. If I could prevent him getting any kind of flu, I would. He had Influenza A this year, and it was awful for him.