Back to School

With the exciting new school year comes a new flu season and a new flu, the H1N1 (Swine) flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are encouraging families and schools to prepare for a possible surge in flu illness this year.

Research indicates that school-age children are more likely to get the new flu than adults, because they have less immunity to flu viruses. With schools and colleges opening across the country, parents, teachers and school officials are looking for ways to protect students from the seasonal and H1N1 (Swine) flu.

• Steps for Parents
• Steps for Schools

Steps for Parents to Protect Your Families from the Flu this School Year

Prepare for the flu:

• Get your family vaccinated for seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 flu when vaccines are available.
  
  

  More Information on Vaccination

• Plan for child care at home if your child gets sick or their school is dismissed.
  
  
• Identify if you have children who are at higher risk of serious disease from the flu and talk to your healthcare provider about a plan to protect them during the flu season. Children at high risk of serious disease from the flu include: children under 5 years of age and those children with chronic medical conditions, such as asthma and diabetes.
  
  

  People with Health Conditions

• Identify a separate room in the house for the care of sick family members.
  
  
• Update emergency contact lists.
  
  
• Collect games, books, DVDs and other items to keep your family entertained if schools are dismissed or your child is sick and must stay home.
  
  
• Plan to monitor the health of the sick child and any other children in the household by checking for fever and other symptoms of flu.
  
  

If your child gets the flu:

1. Keep your sick child home for at least 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medicine). Keeping sick students at home means that they keep their viruses to themselves rather than sharing them with others.
   
   
2. Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands often with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
   
   
3. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow or shoulder; not into your hands.
   
   
4. Fever-reducing medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Motrin) can be given to people who are sick with flu to help bring their fever down and relieve their pain. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) should not be given to children or teenagers who have flu; this can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome.
   
   

If flu conditions become MORE severe, parents should consider the following steps:

• Extend the time sick children stay home for at least 7 days, even if they feel better sooner. People who are still sick after 7 days should continue to stay home until at least 24 hours after symptoms have completely gone away.
  
  
• If a household member is sick, keep any school-aged brothers or sisters home for 5 days from the time the household member became sick. Parents should monitor their health and the health of other school-aged children for fever and other symptoms of the flu.
  
  

Information for Parents

Information for Caregivers

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Steps for Schools to Protect Students and Staff from the Flu this School Year

Schools should take the following steps to help keep students and staff from getting sick with flu. These steps should be followed ALL the time, and not only during a flu pandemic.

• Encourage respiratory etiquette by providing staff and students
  
  
  • education and reminders about covering coughs and sneezes, and
    
    
  • easy access to tissues and running water and soap or alcohol-based hand cleaners.
  
  
• Remind staff and students to practice good hand hygiene and provide the time and supplies for students and staff to wash their hands when needed.
  
  
• Send sick students and staff home. Advise students, staff, and families that sick people should stay at home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever. This should be determined without the use of fever-reducing medicines (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). They should stay home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever even if they are using antiviral medicines.  Schools should revise their policies and incentives to avoid unknowingly penalizing students who stay home when they are sick (e.g., perfect attendance awards).
  
  
• Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact (such as doorknobs and computer keyboards) with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas. Additional disinfection beyond routine cleaning is not recommended. Some states and localities have laws about specific cleaning products used in schools. School officials should contact their state health department and department of environmental protection for additional guidance.
  
  
• Move students and staff who become sick at school to a separate room until they can be sent home. Limit the number of staff who take care of the sick person and provide a surgical mask for the sick person to wear if they can tolerate it.
  
  

  Facemasks and Respirators

• Have Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as masks available and ensure it is worn by school nurses and other staff caring for sick people at school.
  
  
• Encourage sick students and staff at higher risk of complications from flu to get a medical evaluation as soon as possible. Taking antiviral medicines early might prevent severe complications from the flu, such as hospitalization or death.
  
  
• Consider dismissing students if a large proportion of staff are at higher risk of flu-related complications. This strategy would be applicable to very few schools nationwide. Settings where this strategy might be appropriate are in schools for pregnant women and schools with many medically fragile children.
  
  

Guidance for Schools for the Fall Flu Season

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