Area school districts gear up for Fall season...and swine flu
Story Created:
Aug 12, 2009 at 11:23 AM EST
Story Updated:
Aug 12, 2009 at 11:40 AM EST
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Less than a month from the beginning of classes, school districts in the Mohawk Valley are preparing for the return of Novel H1N1, more commonly known as Swine Flu.
Utica Schools Superintendent Jim Willis is meeting with a member of the medical staff Wednesday to help form a gameplan for fall.
Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES Superintendent Howard Mettelman said his plan is three-fold.
First, educate teachers and students on preventative measures.
Second, monitor facilities, making sure they are thoroughly clean and sanitized.
Finally, closely monitor attendance patterns to detect any trends that could be linked to a flu outbreak.
The district also plans to follow advice of county medical officials.
Oriskany Central School Interim Superintendent Ed Shafer says his district is sticking with methods that seemed to work a year ago. They include basic preventative measures and closely monitoring the health of the relatively small school district.
"It's really very hard other than to do standard good health procedures to protect against this and then you also have to make a determinations as children may or not get ill, is this flu, is this swine flu or is it another kind of situation that's going on," said Shafer.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 43,771 probable cases, of those 5,011 were hospitalized and 302 died. In Oneida County, six total cases were reported, and one person has died, according to the County Health Department.
