The Garden City Telegram
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Illness on the rise in USD 457
Published 10/9/2009 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Schools in Garden City are seeing an increased number of students experiencing flu-like symptoms, including a cough, fever, sore throats and body aches, school district officials said today.
On Thursday, 560 students were absent from Garden City public schools, which is 7.5 percent of the district's 7,455 students, said Roy Cessna, public information coordinator for USD 457.
There's no way to tell if the sickness is H1N1 influenza A virus, more commonly known as swine flu, because the state is no longer testing for H1N1, said Ashley Goss, administrator at the Finney County Health Department.
Garden City USD 457 is working with the health department to monitor the number of students who are absent due to illness.
Polly Witt, health services coordinator for USD 457, said there's no indication that Garden City schools will shut down because of the flu.
Earlier this week, schools in Ness City closed because a third of the students were absent and experiencing flu-like symptoms.
Witt said USD 457 will continue working with the health department to monitor the number of children who aren't in school. Witt and Goss said there haven't been discussions about shutting down schools because absences aren't at a high enough rate to warrant such talks.
And children aren't the only ones who are sick.
The health department said the overall number of patients seen in western Kansas for influenza-like illness has increased, as expected, to 13 percent of patients.
The majority of those patients are sent home to rest, according to the health department. Goss said the Kansas Department of Health and Environment releases that number, based on reporting agencies such as doctors offices and hospitals.
People should stay at home if they are sick or are experiencing any of the following symptoms: a fever of more than 100 degrees, cough, sore throat, respiratory congestion, body aches, and in some cases, nausea and vomiting. Also, use good hygiene procedures by washing hands with soap and water, cover a cough or sneeze and sneeze and cough into your elbow.
Witt said parents should keep a sick child home for 24 hours after a fever goes away without any fever reducing medicine.
"If they have body aches, a fever or a sore throat, they really need to be kept at home," Witt said.
Because of an increase of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms, Goss said the Finney County Health Department will be giving the first round of H1N1 vaccinations to health care workers next week, including school nurses, health department nurses, EMS, ER, and private clinic nurses and physicians.
Goss said the health department will receive more vaccinations and will announce the priority groups in the future. Priority groups for the H1N1 vaccinations include caregivers providing care for those younger than six months of age, all persons ages 6 months to 24 years old, those with underlying medical conditions ages 25 to 64, and pregnant women.
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