Calhoun students sent home with flu-like symptoms
By GENE ZALESKI, T&D Staff Writer Saturday, August 29, 20095 comment(s) | Default | Large
A total of 42 Calhoun County School District students were sent home with influenza-like symptoms Thursday and Friday as a precautionary measure in light of continuing concerns over swine flu.
About 21 students were sent home Friday from the St. Matthews PK-8 School,. Also, 18 were sent home from Calhoun County High School and three from the Sandy Run Elementary School Thursday.
Everleen McFadden, Calhoun County School District director of human resources, said some students reported having sore throats and some were vomiting.
“We are being cautious,” McFadden said. “We don’t have an epidemic to the point of closing the schools, not at this point in time.
“We have asked parents to monitor them very closely over the weekend. We understand the seriousness of influenza.”
Students have also been sent home with flu-like symptoms this week from schools in Bamberg and Orangeburg counties, although the cases have not been confirmed as swine flu.
McFadden said the school has encouraged students to keep washing their hands and taking the necessary measures to prevent the spread of any virus. She also said the school’s janitorial staff has aggressively taken steps to ensure all table tops and bathrooms are disinfected.
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Adam Myrick could not confirm the cases were H1N1, or the swine flu, on Friday.
“We are in the middle of a pandemic, so it would not be extremely surprising to us,” Myrick said. “This will probably be going on for the first weeks of school as everyone comes back in and spends time in confined classrooms.”
Myrick said DHEC is aware of the Calhoun County cases and said that not all the students were sent home with flu-like symptoms. He declined to comment on specific cases.
“There is nothing confirmed and nothing crossing the threshold of being an outbreak or an unusual cluster,” Myrick said. “This will probably be a pretty routine thing to hear about.”
Myrick said DHEC is not receiving any samples of the virus unless it is part of an unusual cluster or a patient has been hospitalized or died.
T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.
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clarke g wrote on Aug 29, 2009 7:04 PM:
No computers working for almost a year in the District.Maybe the kids have a computer virus.
cant even send an e-mail to the teacher. "
ConcernedMother wrote on Aug 29, 2009 12:34 PM:
ConcernedMother wrote on Aug 29, 2009 12:33 PM:
ConcernedMother wrote on Aug 29, 2009 12:32 PM:
ConcernedMother wrote on Aug 29, 2009 12:31 PM: