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2009 H1N1 Influenza
Information for Schools and Day Cares
For child care providers, it would be prudent to:
- First and most importantly, remind parents and enforce policies for having ill children stay at home during their illness.
- In addition, remind and inform workers not to come to work while ill.
- A child may be infectious for up to 10 days after the illness onset with influenza while adults are generally infectious for 5-7 days.
Review their plans for responding to a pandemic and make sure they are up to date.
- Know local/state plans for child care in the event of a mild or severe pandemic. This information may be available from state or local health authorities, child care licensing agencies or resource and referral agencies.
- Develop and implement a system to track illness and absence due to illness among children and staff if one is not already in place. The system should be simple and easy to maintain but should record the number of persons with various illness (e.g. respiratory, diarrhea, rash) by day or at least by week.
- Review and implement Preventing the Spread of Influenza (the Flu) in Child Care Settings: Guidance for Administrators, Care Providers, and Other Staff.
- Make sure staff are familiar with the above guidelines and that they are being followed in your program. Remind child care staff to clean/disinfect frequently touched surfaces within the facility.
- Provide information to parents on steps that they could take to prevent influenza. (See attached fact sheet that could be distributed to each parent or posted on a door to the facilities with providers calling attention to the posted fact sheet).
- Monitor the postings on the CDC website about this virus to see if child care facilities should begin preparing for possible closure or changes in operation.
- Contact Vilas County Health Department at (715) 479-3656 if you have questions or suspected cases.
- Review your facilities emergency preparedness plans and consult with state and/or local health departmet's pandemic plans, particularly if the number of cases escalates dramatically.
What can you expect if 2009 H1N1 Influenza is identified in the area?
If there is a case of 2009 H1N1 Influenza diagnosed in the area, residents should be prepared for social distancing interventions that may be quickly implemented. School dismissals will strongly be considered in schools with a confirmed or suspect case of 2009 H1N1 Influenza. Decisions regarding broader school closures, closure of childcare facilities and cancellation of any large public gatherings will be made based on the severity and spread of the illness. Persons with underlying medical conditions who are at high risk of complications of influenza may want to avoid any large gatherings.Child care and preschool programs can help protect the health of their staff and the children and families they serve by calling attention to the every day preventive actions that parents can initiate to protect their children.
Up-to-date information visit:
CDC Resources for K-12 Schools
More information on school planning can be found at:
Flu.gov
Wisconsin Department of Public InstructionFor generic information on disaster preparedness, see NACCRRA's website:
Preparing for Disaster: The Parent ViewAdditional generic planning information for schools, including examples of state and local plans, can be found on the Department of Education's website at:
ED.gov - Lead and Manage My School