Amelia girl dies of causes related to swine flu; Henrico school remains closed
Published: October 23, 2009
Updated: October 23, 2009
An Amelia County child has died of causes related to swine flu. Meanwhile, a private elementary school in Henrico County continues to remain closed today because of the spreading illness.
Heaven Wilson, 6, had tested positive for the H1N1 virus, the state Department of Health said yesterday, and she had no known underlying high-risk medical conditions.
Amelia School Superintendent David M. Gangel said the child was in first grade. He said the school system called parents of the child's classmates and sent letters home to all other families.
She was the 10th person in Virginia who has died from causes related to the H1N1 flu, state Health Department officials said.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 900 people in the United States have died as a result of the H1N1 virus. Young people are particularly susceptible to H1N1 influenza and also are its major transmitters.
With illness sweeping through the school, Our Lady of Lourdes School in Henrico will be closed again today.
On Monday, the school told parents in its newsletter that it was "experiencing an epidemic of flu-like illness," with about 80 students absent that day with flu symptoms.
A letter from Principal Lucy Reilley, posted on the Catholic elementary school's main entrance door, alerted parents Wednesday that Our Lady of Lourdes was closing temporarily yesterday because about 130 students and several faculty members had been absent with flu or strep throat.
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond has given her permission to close the school until Monday, Reilley wrote.
During the days the students are out, the school's cleaning service will disinfect the building, the letter said.
Reilley asked parents to make sure their children have been fever-free for at least 24 hours before bringing them back to school Monday.
The school at 8250 Woodman Road serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and according to its Web site, it has an enrollment of about 400.
Those at high risk for complications from the swine-flu virus also include some people with underlying medical conditions, pregnant women, and adults older than 65.
Virginia public-health officials are working to get the state's at-risk population -- who amount to nearly an estimated half of the state's nearly 7.8 million residents -- vaccinated, but manufacturing delays have reduced the amount of H1N1 vaccine available here.
Though vaccine continues to arrive in the state, "there are and will continue to be delays in vaccine availability," Dr. Karen Remley, the state health commissioner, said in a letter to health-care professionals released yesterday.
The supply this week is 55 percent less than original projections, and next week's will be 47 percent below the projected amounts, Remley said. As of Wednesday, 319,400 doses have come to Virginia.
Chesterfield County schools have postponed all previously scheduled school vaccination clinics, spokesman Shawn Smith said.
Contact Peter Bacqué at (804) 649-6813 or
.
Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6058 or .
Staff writer Karin Kapsidelis contributed to this report.
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Reader Reactions
My deepest condolences to the family, I can’t imagine how horrible it must be to lose a child.
As for qhgirl and mrright: had this been left purely to private enterprise, two things would have happened:
1. The manufacturers would have weighed the profitability of shifting production from seasonal flu vaccine to swine flu vaccine, and perhaps no swine flu vaccine would have been produced because they would have figured that they could not get enough vaccine on the market until past the peak season. Because the Government ordered the vaccine, it was no financial risk to them.
2. Because supply would be limited at first (as we are seeing now), the vaccine would be so expensive that only wealthier people could afford them. Health Insurance companies could decide that the vaccine is an optional procedure and refuse to cover (of course, weighing the cost of covering hospitalizations vs covering the vaccine).
Maybe Government is not the most efficient producer and distributor of goods and services; but at least it does not have profit margins as the motivator for promoting the general welfare of its people.
My daughter’s school was to get the shots today, they were informed yesterday that none of the shots would be there today. The schools had no idea the quantities would be limited, they’re the last to know. The demand is so high that the manufacturers are trying there best to keep up. See my link before about how they’re working with 4 less months than normal to make this vaccine. The fact that any at all has been made, tested and distributed is amazing to me, and a testament to how hard people have worked. And speaking from my own experience, in city schools the vaccine was limited to just children, and possibly school staff. I know in Henrico the staff was scheduled to get the vaccine too. All equally important since the staff is exposed as well.
Where did you hear parents were getting vaccinated? I’ve talked to adults who tried to get the H1N1 vaccine from their doctors and couldn’t because none was available. I don’t think anyone is at fault here, nor does anyone need to be. As the vaccines are made they are shipped. I’d rather have them late, then have them be rushed and be defective in some way.
Why didn’t they limit the vaccine to only children? Sounds like the schools didn’t know how to administer the very limited quantities.. While it isn’t necessarily the fault of the schools that the vaccine is limited.. allowing people not in the at risk group to be vaccinated was a poor choice.
It seems obvious that the distribution of the vaccine overall has missed the mark.. some counties had it.. some didn’t some had more/less.. It certainly isn’t getting to the people who need it most if parents were getting vaccinated
These shots are being given at schools because that’s where H1N1 is being spread. Roughly a third of the students and faculty at many area schools have been out sick in the last week. The logical way to stop the spread of this is to immunize the people most effected by it, and right now that group is schoolchildren. I applaud this smart decision. Do you have a better proposal qhgirl? If so I’d love to hear it.
Our schools and health dept are working hard to contain this:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/support/health_medical/influenza/
From that link:
“The virus continues to affect the young disproportionately, resulting in outbreaks in group settings involving children.“
So where do you propose we vaccinate large groups of children, if not in schools?
anon.. I think Mrright’s assessment is fair. It isn’t his idea that schools are a place to dispense healthcare.. but the government’s. So yep.. we do need to be suspicious of an entity that doesn’t have a grasp on how healthcare is/should be dispensed.
mrright, you have a fitting name on here.
“Virginia public-health officials are working to get the state’s at-risk population—who amount to nearly an estimated half of the state’s nearly 7.8 million residents—vaccinated, but manufacturing delays have reduced the amount of H1N1 vaccine available here.“
Did you read the article? MANUFACTURING DELAYS. The contracted companies can’t make the vaccine fast enough to meet demand. It has nothing to do with government run health care, it has to do with trying to rush out a vaccine for a new strain of flu in about 4 months less time than usual. But thanks for trying to scare people into thinking that it’s the government’s fault. I’d expect nothing less from public option naysayers. See this timeline for how long it normally takes to make and test a flu vaccine:
hey mrright, where are the vaccines your beloved private health care companies are supplying you? hmm. thought so. get in line with big companies and big insurance so you can wait for them to take all your money. i for one am willing to give government a chance to fix the problem since the private system won’t do anything until they go bankrupt.
Um, HappyGirl? You’re not so happy. You just said that you want all of Chesterfield to go without vaccines because some selfish idiots behaved like, well, selfish idiots. I live in C-field, and I did not take any shot away from any kid, so don’t tell me that you want my children, who did not get the shot, to go without. Also, the shots they used up were the ones alloted for those particular schools, not for the whole county. We are apparently waiting for some supplier to hurry up with the shipments. And yeah, Anon, where are the ones that have already been delivered?? We have so many kids out in my school today (a high school). It is too little, too late for us, since we won’t get any vaccines until the elementary kids have gotten theirs- which is as it should be.
Meanwhile, I feel so terribly for the family, fellow students, and teachers of the little Amelia girl. :(
I also agree with 123456, Chesterfield is always greedy.. no matter what they do.. The vaccines were for the CHILDREN.. not the parents.. all the doses were gone in one day!!!Now no one gets them.. They should feel ashamed of themselves.. everyday on the news all you hear about is chesterfield gets this, they get that.. they WANT more of this.. There are more counties in this state than chesterfield!!! Make them do without now.
mrright,
Do you really expect to get your health care from elementary schools? You have a very interesting grasp of the medical profession.
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