 Students in Bishop schools have been staying home sick in record numbers due to a major flu outbreak in the area. No students have been hospitalized, but officials predict the outbreak will get worse before it gets better. Photo by Mike Bodine By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
10-24-2009 As predicted, this fall is proving to be a bad year of the flu and local schools are suffering the consequences.
The Bishop Union Elementary School District, during an average flu outbreak, experiences about a 5 percent absentee rate among students.
In the past two weeks, the schools have seen as much as 16 percent of the 1,255-member student body staying home sick.
From Oct. 12-21, the district has seen anywhere from 118 to 189 students absent on a given school day.
Bishop Union High School is also experiencing higher-than-average absenteeism with nearly 7 percent of the 650 students (or 45.5 students) staying home sick on a daily basis.
Inyo County Super-intendent of Schools Terry McAteer said that schools throughout Inyo County are dealing with above-average absences due to the flu.
The flu season at local schools typically hits between January and February, but even during those peak months, McAteer said, local schools don’t generally see as many absences as the past couple weeks have seen.
Public Health Officer Dr. Rick Johnson said it is unclear if the current flu outbreak is the H1N1 virus or the common seasonal flu.
“Right now the guidelines from the state are that you test individuals who are hospitalized,” said Tamara Cohn of Health and Human Services. “Fortunately our students are not being hospitalized.”
But without any tests being done, officials can not tell what strain of the flu is causing the absences, but the fact remains that there has been an outbreak.
Without any hospitilizations, it is hard to track exactly how much of the population has contracted the flu, but schools, where kids are constantly grouped together, sharing germs, provide a good indicator of the scale of the outbreak.
“It’s all up and down the valley,” McAteer said. “Kids are germy and between soccer practices and dances, its in all of our schools. All of our districts have been pretty hard hit.”
According to Bishop Union Elementary School District Principal Randy Cook, it’s not just the kids who are feeling the effects of the widespread flu. Many teachers have also been forced to call in sick to avoid contaminating healthy students and faculty members on campus.
“We’ve had a high percentage of teachers out with sickness too, but we haven’t seen such extreme cases as with the students,” Cook said.
“They’re on the front line for getting those germs,” McAteer said of the teachers.
Teachers are also on the front lines of keeping the germs out of school.
“Teachers are sending kids to the office when they think they’re sick,” said Bishop Union High School Principal Kris Kulow.
McAteer said that practice is being observed throughout the county, and many students who begin showing symptoms of a fever during school hours have been sent to the school nurse or office to be checked out.
“Our rule is if you’ve got a fever, go home. We don’t want to see you until a day after your fever subsides,” McAteer said.
According to Cook, the Elementary School District has gone so far as to change its policy on perfect attendance.
Cook said that this is the first year the district is not offering awards and recognition to students with perfect attendance.
“We no longer have the perfect attendance award, because that’s counter-productive if it’s encouraging sick students to come to class,” Cook said.
Students who are attending class and are not ill are being encouraged to practice good hygiene and wash their hands often. Cook also said students are being asked to not share meals and drinks at school to help prevent the spread of the flu.
McAteer said that there is a silver lining to the increase in flu cases.
“I think the good news is we survived the first wave,” he said. “We had a good wave the first time, and I think a lot of these kids have built up immunities.”
Dr. Johnson said this outbreak is expected to subside, but it is unclear if residents can expect an outbreak of another strain of the flu.
Though it may have started in the schools, this flu outbreak is expected to hit most of the community before its over.
“I’ve seen estimates that 60 percent of the population will be infected by this before it starts to go away,” Johnson said.
Cohn said a typical flu outbreak lasts approximately 12 weeks.
“This will peak in the next couple weeks then start to subside,” Johnson said. “The most important thing is to stay home if you’re sick, make sure you’re washing your hands and covering your mouth.”
Flu shots will be available at 107 W. South St. in Bishop Mondays from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m. with walk-ins accepted from 1-4 p.m. Wednesdays and from 9-11:30 a.m. Fridays.
No schedule for flu clinics in Southern Inyo were available as of press time Friday.
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