School absenteeism acts as flu barometer
Last Updated: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | 10:14 PM ET
CBC News
Two weeks ago at Bellmoore School in Hamilton, dozens of students were home sick with flu. (CBC)Schools across the U.S. continued to record high levels of absenteeism as children stayed home sick with flu symptoms.
In the spring, federal governments in both Canada and U.S. have suggested that schools close only as a last resort.
Last week alone, at least 351 schools were closed in 19 states, according to the U.S. Education Department. So far this school year, about 600 schools temporarily closed — a number that appears on target to surpass the roughly 700 U.S. schools closed that closed last spring when the H1N1 outbreak first hit.
"This is scary," said Kathryn Marchuk, a nurse whose son attends St. Charles East High School outside Chicago, which closed for three days last week after about 800 of its 2,200 students called in absent. "So many people are sick. It's just everywhere."
Experts continue to debate the value of school closures for stemming the spread of flu.
Closing school "took the pressure off," said Katy DeSalvo, whose daughter, Amy, a 17-year-old senior at St. Charles East High School outside Chicago, had been home sick and worried that missing school would hurt her grades.
"She wants to go to Duke [and] all the kids, particularly the higher-achieving kids, want to go back. And they'd infect everybody."
Jim Blaney, a spokesman for the district that includes St. Charles East High, said they decided to close the school to allow children to stay home, rest and recover.
Others argue shutting school doesn't prevent children and teens from from spreading the virus.
"If kids were isolated in their homes it may help," said Julie Pryde, administrator in Illinois' Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. But "kids congregate at malls, at each other's homes, they go to movies — and that is not helpful."
Canadian school outbreaks
Across Canada, some communities are hot spots of flu activity, including British Columbia's Lower Mainland, Kingston, Ont. and Hamilton, Ont.
In Hamilton, there are currently outbreaks at half the 114 public schools in the city.
Two weeks ago at Bellmoore School in Hamilton, dozens of students were home sick with flu. "It was overwhelming at times for sure," recalled principal Greg Moore.
This week, many schools on Newfoundland's east coast also reported that a lot of students were staying at home because of flu-like symptoms.
Education officials said 70 per cent of the students at one small school on the Burin Peninsula were off sick, while St. Thomas of Villanova in Conception Bay South, near St. John's, reported that 40 per cent of its junior high students were out of class.
In Calgary, schools are required to contact public health authorities whenever the absentee rate climbs above 10 per cent.
"What we are seeing now, I've never seen before," Dr. Judy MacDonald, Alberta's deputy medical officer of health, said Wednesday. "We've been getting upwards of 10 reports like that from schools in the Calgary area for the last week or so, so we know there is a lot of influenza-like activity out there."
While the Calgary Board of Education won't reveal which schools have high absentee rates, spokesman Ted Flitton said some schools are reporting student absences of between one and 30 per cent. Besides children missing class to get flu shots, some students are sick and others may be looking after ill siblings, he said.
Health officials have advised against keeping healthy children at home.
Last week, federal officials declared that Canada has officially entered the second wave of the H1N1 flu pandemic, based on the number of people testing positive for the virus, reported hospitalizations for flu-like illness, people seeking medical attention for flu symptoms and increase sales of antiviral medications.
With files from The Associated Press
