(Breaking news) Two confirmed cases of swine flu reported at Patuxent High

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Calvert County public schools sent an e-mail to parents and the media today saying that two Patuxent High School students have confirmed cases of swine flu, or the H1N1 virus.

A press release accompanying the letter said that the Calvert County Health Department confirmed the cases.

"Both students have recovered but will not attend school for the remainder of the school year," the release stated.

The last day of school is June 12.

The release said that Patuxent High School will not be closed. Centers for Disease Control has not been recommending school closure in recent weeks.

"We are asking parents to remain alert to possible signs of the flu in their children," said Jack Smith, superintendent of schools, in the release.

School officials are asking that students who are sick or have flu symptoms be kept home until they are "cleared to return to school by a healthcare provider," the release said.

"Please be assured that we are doing everything possible to keep your child/children safe at school," Smith said in the release.

Patuxent High School Principal Nancy Highsmith said that though the two students will be out of school through the remainder of the year, "We're going to carry on business as usual."

She said she was unaware of what grades the two students are in.

The e-mail sent to parents and staff included signs for which parents should be on the alert: fever of more than 100 degrees, cough, sore throat, runny nose or nasal stuffiness, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.

This news comes on the same day that Director of Student Services Kim Roof, Executive Director of School Operations Deborah Pulley and Supervisor of Nursing Donna Nichols unveiled a Pandemic Flu plan at Thursday's Calvert County Board of Education Meeting.

The plan involves numerous directors throughout the school system being in direct contact with the Calvert County Health Department and the Maryland State Police and taking various steps ranging from mitigation and prevention to ongoing surveillance and awareness to potential school closure.

"This is a working document … a lot of it depends on the situation as it presents itself," Roof said. "These are the stages of the plan that we would work from."

Nichols said, "Certainly if we begin to see a pattern … the nurses report to me and I report to the health department … and that's when we'd start to work directly with the state."

" … The difficult thing is you never know what it's going to be or how it's going to look," she said.

The e-mail also requested that parents report absences to the school so the schools can have accurate information about absences.

lbuck@somdnews.com