School Transportation News Magazine | September 2009
and be exposed because the virus is dead.” Seemingly healthy individuals must follow the same healthy
practices because, Schmidt explained, studies show that sick people can be contagious one full day before symptoms appear and up to seven days afterward. Accordingly, Schmidt agrees with the CDC and U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser- vices that all swine flu patients should stay at home seven days before returning to school or work. “If bus drivers feel they are having flu symptoms, they need to
stay home,” said Schmidt. “I know it’s hard on the transportation system, and it’s going to be brutal, but it has to be done.”
The Responsibility to Protect Others Te best way to keep infectious diseases off the school bus is to
keep sick people off the bus, which requires vigilance. Charlene Podzikowski, transportation department supervisor for Oxford Community Schools in Michigan, said the district’s notification procedures require drivers to report to the school any student who appears ill. “I don’t recall anything quite like this, not with MRSA or TB, in
the almost 19 years I’ve been here — nothing that made us get out there and get the buses sanitized,” said Podzikowski, recalling the handful of swine flu cases that Oxford saw last spring. “We tried to hit it as soon as we heard about it.” School bus drivers have a hard enough time staying well dur-
ing the regular flu season, she continued, which is why she keeps them well stocked with hand-sanitizer. “We’ll have to be more vigilant this year about the flu,” Podzikows-
ki said. “My drivers were a little cautious [last spring]. It made them feel better that they disinfected the buses for the kids as well as themselves. Kids come up the steps coughing at them or throwing
School District Pandemic
a cold at them. I think they just know that’s part of the job.” Doyle Jones of the Marion School District in Arkansas will
maintain the regular cleaning schedule that sanitizes his 35 bus- es twice monthly. He believes communication is just as vital as cleaning in preventing widespread flu and applauds schools for displaying posters about proper hand-washing, coughing and sneezing etiquette. Bus drivers and aides reinforce this message as much as possible, he noted. “With our younger kids, we have aides on the buses trying to
teach them the proper etiquette and how to cover their mouths and so forth,” Jones said. Like many in education, he is eagerly awaiting the H1N1 vac-
cine and hopes that service providers in regular contact with children, like school bus drivers, will be among the first groups to get vaccinated. Until then, hard-hit cities like Los Angeles, New York and
Chicago are spreading the word via Web sites, brochures and videos that prevention is the best medicine. Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman said that CPS has taken a proac- tive stance by working closely with the Chicago Department of Public Health. “We are committed to keeping our families informed of any
public health situation as it develops,” Huberman said. “For ex- ample, we notified parents through written material and on the Web in several different languages. Also, note the videos we cre- ated on proper hand-washing and instructing young children how not to sneeze or cough so as to infect others.” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Tomas Frieden
stresses personal responsibility in his city’s flu guide: “During an influenza pandemic, our own behavior will be as important as anything the health care system can do for us.” n
Influenza Planning Checklist Defined
• Infection control policies and procedures •Work with the local health department to implement effec- tive infection prevention policies and procedures that help limit the spread of influenza at schools.
• Provide sufficient and accessible infection prevention sup- plies, such as soap, alcohol-based/waterless hand hygiene products, tissues and receptacles for their disposal.
• Establish policies and procedures for students and staff sick leave absences unique to a pandemic influenza (e.g., non- punitive, liberal leave).
• Establish sick leave policies for staff and students suspected to be ill or who become ill at school. Staff and students with known or suspected pandemic influenza should not remain at school and should return only after their symptoms resolve. • Establish policies for transporting ill students.
View the complete checklist at
www.flu.gov/plan/school/school- checklist.html.
30 Flu Terms
Seasonal (or common) flu is a respiratory illness that can be transmitted person to person. Most people have some immu- nity, and a vaccine is available. Novel H1N1 flu is a new influenza virus causing illness in people. Tis new virus was first detected in the U.S. in April 2009, and has spread to many countries around the world. Avian flu (AI) is caused by influenza viruses that occur natu- rally among wild birds. Highly pathogenic H5N1 can be trans- mitted from birds to humans, and is deadly to humans. Tere is virtually no human immunity, and human vaccine availability is very limited. Pandemic flu is virulent human flu that causes a global out- break, or pandemic, of serious illness. Because there is little natural immunity, the disease can spread easily from person to person.
Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
www.pan-
demicflu.gov
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