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Local H1N1 cases appear to be on rise
Rod Rose
LEBANON, Oct 14, 2009
The Lebanon Reporter - McClatchy
The H1N1 flu virus is now considered to be widespread in the state, according to information from the Center for Disease Control, and it looks like Boone County residents are seeing their share of the virus.
Thursday's band concert at Lebanon High School has been cancelled "due to illness and excessive student absenteeism," LHS Principal Kevin O'Rourke said in a press release Tuesday.
Absenteeism at Lebanon schools "hasn't reached a critical stage," Shelley Ladd, administrative assistant to Lebanon Community School Corp. Superintendent Robert Taylor, said late Tuesday afternoon. She did not have access to exact numbers late in the day Tuesday.
Other schools systems did have numbers to report, and they show an increase in the number of sick students.
Generally, an absenteeism rate of 5 percent is considered average.
On Tuesday, 14 percent of ZWMS students were absent, and 24 percent the sixth-graders at Zionsville West Middle School were out sick, said Scott Robison, Zionsville Community School Corporation Superintendent.
Average attendance district-wide absenteeism was nearly 8 percent, a marked increase from the week before, Robison said.
In Western Boone, about 11 percent of the pupils at Thorntown Elementary School were absent Tuesday, Western Boone Superintendent Dr. Judy Hendrix said.
Western Boone's overall absenteeism rate Tuesday was 6 percent, she noted.
The Boone County Health Department does not have hard numbers yet, but "we're hearing from the doctors they are seeing numbers of children in the office for flu-like symptoms," Chuck Ritz, public information officer for the Boone County Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday afternoon. Ritz is the Boone County Health Department's spokesman on H1N1 issues.
A health department survey of county schools last week did not show any pockets of excessive absenteeism, Ritz said, although "all the schools are running a little above normal."
With the jump in absenteeism Tuesday at Zionsville, Robison said the numbers look like they would during the peak of a regular flu season -- which usually starts later in the fall and peaks in January and February.
Any school experiencing a student absentee rate of 20 percent or more is required by the Pandemic Surveillance Rule to report the information to the state, but an absentee benchmark that would require a school to close has not been set.
Dr. H.S. Servies, Boone County Health Officer, told the Lebanon School Board on Aug. 19 that any decision on whether to close schools would be made in conjunction with school officials.
Dr. Servies said, "the potential benefits (of closing schools)far outweigh the negative consequences."
On Monday, during an interview for an unrelated story, Dr. Servies said widely varied absenteeism rates is not unusual.
"Pandemics are this way," he said. "And what I mean by that is you will see the pandemic may be really bad in Indiana but in Illinois it may not ... and then three or four weeks later, it's really bad in Illinois and it's not so bad in Indiana."
"You may see greater severity of disease in a certain spot, but nowhere else," Dr. Servies said. "That's just the nature of a pandemic."
Witham Health Services has seen an influx of patients presenting with flu-like symptoms both in the pediatric and family medicine offices as well as in the emergency room, Tammy Rabe said Tuesday afternoon.
Rabe, Witham's director of marketing and public relations, said only a few cases have required hospitalization.
"Because of the uncertainties surrounding the number of cases we could receive, Witham has taken steps to be prepared for anything -- including ordering a surplus of child-sized medical masks, additional hand sanitizer and limiting access to the facility," she noted.
Witham Health Services also has vaccinated approximately 100 Witham employees, including physicians, nurses and technicians and more staff members are vaccinated each day.
"As an additional precaution, employees cannot report to work if they have flu like symptoms that include a fever," she said. "We have had only a couple employees who have been required to stay at home in the past 30 days."
She said Witham employees, volunteers and visitors are continuously educated about the importance of hand-washing.
"We understand that it can be difficult to follow all of the new information about a fast moving target such as H1N1, however, we are here to help parents and the community understand that children are one of the groups at greatest risk for getting H1N1," Rabe said. "It is important that parents be fully educated on the risks of the disease and the importance of vaccination."
Health officials are asking people to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu as well as the H1N1 strain. Even if a person has had H1N1 this year, it will be possible for them to contract seasonal flu when it becomes more prevalent, likely later this fall.
Right now, Boone County is out of the seasonal flu vaccine. Tuesday, the Indiana State Department of Health delivered "very limited amounts" of injectable H1N1 vaccine to the Boone County Health Department, Ritz said. Those shots are being given only to persons at high risk of dying from flu complications, the BCHD said on its Web site.
Persons in high-risk groups are pregnant women, persons from six months to 24 years old, persons 25 to 64 who either have chronic medical conditions or are immune compromised, people living with or caring for children under six months old, and health care providers.
A report from a presidential panel, released this summer, projected that up to half of the country's population would become infected by H1N1 during this pandemic and that 90,000 could die. Last weekend, a high-risk 12-year-old girl from Zionsville died from complications of H1N1, her family said. The state has not yet confirmed that death, but has reported five other H1N1-related deaths in the state. The state's next report is due today and can be viewed at www.in.gov/flu.
Rod Rose
LEBANON, Oct 14, 2009
The Lebanon Reporter - McClatchy
The H1N1 flu virus is now considered to be widespread in the state, according to information from the Center for Disease Control, and it looks like Boone County residents are seeing their share of the virus.
Thursday's band concert at Lebanon High School has been cancelled "due to illness and excessive student absenteeism," LHS Principal Kevin O'Rourke said in a press release Tuesday.
Absenteeism at Lebanon schools "hasn't reached a critical stage," Shelley Ladd, administrative assistant to Lebanon Community School Corp. Superintendent Robert Taylor, said late Tuesday afternoon. She did not have access to exact numbers late in the day Tuesday.
Other schools systems did have numbers to report, and they show an increase in the number of sick students.
Generally, an absenteeism rate of 5 percent is considered average.
On Tuesday, 14 percent of ZWMS students were absent, and 24 percent the sixth-graders at Zionsville West Middle School were out sick, said Scott Robison, Zionsville Community School Corporation Superintendent.
Average attendance district-wide absenteeism was nearly 8 percent, a marked increase from the week before, Robison said.
In Western Boone, about 11 percent of the pupils at Thorntown Elementary School were absent Tuesday, Western Boone Superintendent Dr. Judy Hendrix said.
Western Boone's overall absenteeism rate Tuesday was 6 percent, she noted.
The Boone County Health Department does not have hard numbers yet, but "we're hearing from the doctors they are seeing numbers of children in the office for flu-like symptoms," Chuck Ritz, public information officer for the Boone County Emergency Management Agency, said Tuesday afternoon. Ritz is the Boone County Health Department's spokesman on H1N1 issues.
A health department survey of county schools last week did not show any pockets of excessive absenteeism, Ritz said, although "all the schools are running a little above normal."
With the jump in absenteeism Tuesday at Zionsville, Robison said the numbers look like they would during the peak of a regular flu season -- which usually starts later in the fall and peaks in January and February.
Any school experiencing a student absentee rate of 20 percent or more is required by the Pandemic Surveillance Rule to report the information to the state, but an absentee benchmark that would require a school to close has not been set.
Dr. H.S. Servies, Boone County Health Officer, told the Lebanon School Board on Aug. 19 that any decision on whether to close schools would be made in conjunction with school officials.
Dr. Servies said, "the potential benefits (of closing schools)far outweigh the negative consequences."
On Monday, during an interview for an unrelated story, Dr. Servies said widely varied absenteeism rates is not unusual.
"Pandemics are this way," he said. "And what I mean by that is you will see the pandemic may be really bad in Indiana but in Illinois it may not ... and then three or four weeks later, it's really bad in Illinois and it's not so bad in Indiana."
"You may see greater severity of disease in a certain spot, but nowhere else," Dr. Servies said. "That's just the nature of a pandemic."
Witham Health Services has seen an influx of patients presenting with flu-like symptoms both in the pediatric and family medicine offices as well as in the emergency room, Tammy Rabe said Tuesday afternoon.
Rabe, Witham's director of marketing and public relations, said only a few cases have required hospitalization.
"Because of the uncertainties surrounding the number of cases we could receive, Witham has taken steps to be prepared for anything -- including ordering a surplus of child-sized medical masks, additional hand sanitizer and limiting access to the facility," she noted.
Witham Health Services also has vaccinated approximately 100 Witham employees, including physicians, nurses and technicians and more staff members are vaccinated each day.
"As an additional precaution, employees cannot report to work if they have flu like symptoms that include a fever," she said. "We have had only a couple employees who have been required to stay at home in the past 30 days."
She said Witham employees, volunteers and visitors are continuously educated about the importance of hand-washing.
"We understand that it can be difficult to follow all of the new information about a fast moving target such as H1N1, however, we are here to help parents and the community understand that children are one of the groups at greatest risk for getting H1N1," Rabe said. "It is important that parents be fully educated on the risks of the disease and the importance of vaccination."
Health officials are asking people to get vaccinated for the seasonal flu as well as the H1N1 strain. Even if a person has had H1N1 this year, it will be possible for them to contract seasonal flu when it becomes more prevalent, likely later this fall.
Right now, Boone County is out of the seasonal flu vaccine. Tuesday, the Indiana State Department of Health delivered "very limited amounts" of injectable H1N1 vaccine to the Boone County Health Department, Ritz said. Those shots are being given only to persons at high risk of dying from flu complications, the BCHD said on its Web site.
Persons in high-risk groups are pregnant women, persons from six months to 24 years old, persons 25 to 64 who either have chronic medical conditions or are immune compromised, people living with or caring for children under six months old, and health care providers.
A report from a presidential panel, released this summer, projected that up to half of the country's population would become infected by H1N1 during this pandemic and that 90,000 could die. Last weekend, a high-risk 12-year-old girl from Zionsville died from complications of H1N1, her family said. The state has not yet confirmed that death, but has reported five other H1N1-related deaths in the state. The state's next report is due today and can be viewed at www.in.gov/flu.
