Your are here: Home » About Us »

Preparing for the Flu

Working together to keep our kids healthy

CATHOLIC SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

DIOCESE OF SACRAMENTO

PREPARING FOR THE FLU

This document provides guidance to help decrease the spread of flu among students and school staff during the school years. It recommends action from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to take this year and suggests strategies to use if the CDC finds that the flu starts causing more severe disease. The information provided in this packet comes from the CDC Guidance for State and Public Health Officials and School Administrators for School (K-12) Responses to Influenza during the school year.

Action Steps for Schools for Prevention, Response and Care

The following should be followed all the time and not only during a flu pandemic.

- Educate and encourage students and staff to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Also, providing them with easy access to tissues and running water and soap or alcohol-based hand cleaners. Remind them to cover coughs or sneezes using their elbow instead of their hand when a tissue is not available.

- Remind teachers, staff, and students to practice good hand hygiene and provide the time and supplies for them to wash their hands as often as necessary.

- Send sick students, teachers, and staff home and advise them and their 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 (without the use of fever-reducing medicine).

-Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact such as desks, door knobs, keyboards, pens, with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas.

-Move students, teachers, and staff to a separate room if they become sick at school until they can be sent home. Limit the number of staff who take care of the sick child and provide surgical masks for the sick persons to wear if they can tolerate it.

-Have Personal Protective Equipment such as masks available and ensure the equipment is worn by school nurses and other staff caring for sick students at school.

- Encourage early medical evaluation for sick students and staff at higher risk of complications from flu. People at high risk of flu complications who get sick will benefit from early treatment with antiviral medicines.

- Stay in regular communication with local public health officials and the CSD.

Recommended School Responses for the School Year (Under conditions with similar severity as in the spring of 2009)

-Students and employees should stay home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever, or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medicines. They should stay home even if they are using antiviral drugs.

-Students and staff who appear to have flu-like illness should be sent to a room separate from others until they can be sent home. CDC recommends that they wear a surgical mask, if possible, and that those who care for ill students and staff wear protective gear such as a mask.

-The new recommendations emphasize the importance of the basic foundations of influenza prevention: stay home when sick, wash hands frequently with soap and water when possible, and cover noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.

- School staff should routinely clean areas that students and staff touch often with the cleaners you typically use. Special cleaning with bleach and other non-detergent-based cleaners is not necessary.

-Students and staff who are high risk for influenza complications who become ill with influenza-like illness should speak with their health care provided as soon as possible. Early treatment with antiviral medications is very important for people at high risk because it can prevent hospitalizations and deaths. Those that are high risk include those who are pregnant, have asthma or diabetes, have comprised immune systems, or have neuromuscular diseases.

Action Steps for Parents if School is dismissed or Children are Sick and must stay Home

- Be prepared to support home learning activities if the school makes them available. Your child's school may offer web-based lessons, instructional phone calls, and other types of distance learning. Have school materials, such as text books, workbooks, and homework packets available at home.

-Have activities for your children to do while at home. Pull together games, books, DVDs and other items to keep your family entertained.

-Find out if your employer will allow you to stay at home to care for sick household members or children dismissed from school. Ask if you can work from home. If this is not possible, find other ways to care for your children at home.

If school is dismissed, monitor the school's website, local news, and other sources for information about return to school.

Tips for Taking Care of Children with the Flu

-Stay home if you or your child is sick until at least 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of a fever-reducing medicine).

-Cover coughs and sneezes. Clean hands with soap or an alcohol based hand rub often and especially after coughing or sneezing.

-Keep sick household members in a separate room in the house as much as possible to limit contact with household members who are not sick. Consider designating a single person as the main caregiver for the sick person.

-Monitor the health of the sick child and any other household members by checking for fever and other symptoms of the flu. A fever is a temperature taken with a thermometer that is equal to or greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius). If you are not able to measure a temperature, the sick person might have a fever if he or she feels warm, has a flushed appearance, or is sweating or shivering.

Watch for emergency warnings signs that need urgent medical attention. These warning signs include:

-fast breathing or trouble breathing

-Bluish or gray skin color

-Not drinking enough fluids

- Not urinating or no tears when crying

-Severe or persistent vomiting

-Not waking up or not interacting

-Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held

-Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen

-Sudden dizziness

-Confusion

-Flu like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

-Check with your doctor about any special care needed for household members who may be at higher risk for complications from flu. This includes children under the age of 5 years, pregnant women, people of any age who have chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), and people age 65 years and older.

-Have the sick household member wear a facemask when sharing common spaces with other household members to help prevent spreading the virus to others. This is especially important if other household members are at high risk for complications from flu.

-Ask your doctor about antiviral medicines or fever-reducing medicines for sick household members. Do not give aspirin to children or teenagers; it can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye's syndrome

-Make sure sick household members get plenty of rest and drink clear fluids (such as water, broth, sports drinks, electrolyte beverages for infants) to keep from being dehydrated.

If the health department says that flu conditions have become more severe:

-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 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-age children for fever and other symptoms of the flu.

Additional Resources

Visit www.flu.gov

Contact CDC 24 Hours/Every day

1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636) both in English and Spanish/Talk to a Representative

www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm