Rumors of “confirmed cases” at local schools are circulating, and if you live around Lake Highlands, chances are good you know someone who’s been diagnosed with influenza.

If you have kids in school, your chances are even better.

This, combined with the all the media coverage the Swine flu garnered in the spring, has a lot of people wondering what to do next.

LH Today spoke with Tim Clark, Director of Communications for RISD, about the flu season, the district’s plan and what they expect for the families of our community.

“As for hearing about confirmed cases in our schools, there’s really no way to know about that,” says Clark. “But it’s not because we’re not interested or taking the situation seriously.”

“The U.S. Health Department has actually changed its guidelines for how influenza is reported and tracked, so the district’s plans mirror what the government is requesting from the schools.”

“Based on the information shared with us, the H1N1 flu is now being classified much like the regular seasonal flu, and this both good and bad news,” he says.

“Good news because this strain shouldn’t be anything more than we’re used to dealing with during the winter, but bad in that even regular strains of flu are estimated to kill approximately 30,000 people a year in the U.S.”

Current Health Department guidelines call for districts to report how many school absences are most likely due to “flu-like symptoms.” So, local schools are requesting help from parents.

When students miss school due to flu-like symptoms, including fever, body aches and a cough or sore throat, parents are asked to report these symptoms to their school nurse.

“School nurses will then report these absences to the Dallas County Health Department, who will be responsible for tracking illnesses based on these symptoms,” says Clark.

So what can students and their families do to help prevent the spread of the virus?

Because H1N1 flu can be extremely contagious, it’s very important to observe basic hygiene and cleanliness precautions, including:

• frequent hand washing,
• coughing/sneezing into your sleeves (not your hands),
• frequent cleaning of commonly touched surfaces, and
• not sharing food or drink with others.

So, it seems common sense prevails. If your child becomes ill with flu-like symptoms (a fever of 100.0°F or higher, plus cough and/or sore throat), they should not come to school until the symptoms have completely abated.

The same obviously holds true for adults who are exhibiting similar symptoms.

In short, if you’re not concerned about the flu, you probably should be.

That said, however, by taking the proper precautions, odds are we’ll all come through this cold and flu season just fine.

For more information about the RISD’s flu season preparation, visit http://www.risd.org.