Flu-related shutdowns not a cure-all, health officials say

Amelia County’s public-school absenteeism was more than cut in half after the county schools were closed for a week in an effort to reduce the spread of swine flu.

But public-health officials caution that shutting down schools is not a cure-all for the flu epidemic sweeping through Virginia and the nation. Under some circumstances, doing so can cause other social problems, they say.

For Amelia, “it made sense to try to break the chain of infection,“ David Gangel, the county’s school superintendent, said yesterday. “It appears the strategy worked. I’m looking at about 7 percent absenteeism today.“

The rural county’s school absenteeism rate peaked two weeks ago at 18 percent and had started to drop when 6-year-old Amelia Elementary School student Heaven Wilson died of the H1N1 influenza, precipitating last week’s closure of Amelia’s three public schools.

Several public and private schools have sent their students home for periods ranging from a few hours to a week since swine flu hit the state. While urging decision-making in collaboration with health officials, state and federal policy gives local school systems authority over school closings because of illness.

Dr. Brooke Rossheim, acting director of the Chickahominy Health District, said school absenteeism in central Virginia seems to be decreasing, with some exceptions.

“In our district, Chickahominy, we are actually seeing a decrease in absenteeism, more toward normal,“ said Rossheim, while the Crater Health District is still experiencing double-digit school absenteeism rates.

The Crater Health District includes the cities of Emporia, Hopewell and Petersburg and the counties of Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, Surry and Sussex; the Chickahominy Health District includes the counties of Hanover, Goochland, New Kent and Charles City.

Rossheim provided an update on H1N1 activity during a phone news briefing yesterday.

School absenteeism rates are averaging 9 percent at elementary schools and 7 percent at middle and high schools in the region, he said.

Based on the experience with large flu outbreaks last spring, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, the benefits from dismissing students from school “are often outweighed by negative consequences.“

Those problems, the CDC said, include students being left home alone, missing meals, losing access to school health services and having their education interrupted; parents’ job security and income loss; health workers missing shifts to stay home with their sick children; and reduced school funding based on attendance.

“Sometimes these [school closure] decisions aren’t made on public-health reasons,“ said Dr. Kay Rankin, Crater Health District director, “but more on dealing with the political realities and trying to help the community regroup from something as devastating as the death of a young child.“

Widespread absences have led to recent school closures as well.

Our Lady of Lourdes School closed Oct. 22-23 when 135 of its 382 pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students were out sick.

“We ended up with a middle school that had very few students in it,“ said Lucy Reilley, principal of the Catholic school in Henrico County. “I had faculty out, and substitutes either had sick children, or they didn’t want to be exposed.“

In the end, Reilley said, “we were unable to teach.“

With feverish students flooding its school health clinics, 18 percent student absenteeism, and about 15 percent of the faculty out with the flu, the Northampton County school system sent all its students home for the weekend early on Oct. 23, a Friday.

“We really had no place else to put sick children,“ said Rick Bowmaster, Northampton’s school superintendent. “We felt it was in the best interest to just dismiss early.“

Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-65813 or .

Staff writer Tammie Smith contributed to this report.