Over the summer the flu virus, including the H1N1 virus, has appeared in our area. We are now starting to see it in student athletes, and are asking for your help. If your student becomes ill with flu like symptoms, especially a fever over 100 degrees, please let the coach or trainer know. It is very important that your student does not participate in practice or games, to avoid spreading the virus. If your child does come down with flu-like symptoms, please contact your doctor for advice; or, if you don’t have a doctor, contact an UrgentCareCenter. If your child has trouble breathing or other serious symptoms, seek Emergency Medical Care.
Flu-like symptoms include: fever over 100 degrees F., cough, sore throat, runny nose, or stuffy nose. Additional symptoms may be experienced with H1N1 flu, including muscle pain, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting or diarrhea.
Flu spreads easily. If you suspect your child is getting the flu, it is important that he/she remains at home and does not socialize with friends at places like the mall as well as sporting events where other people would be exposed to flu germs. To prevent the spread of H1N1, anyone with the symptoms listed above should stay home for 24 hours after they are free of fever (when not taking fever-reducing drugs).
It is also important to practice safe hygiene to protect oneself and others from infection. Encourage all family members, including your student athlete to:
Use hand sanitizer. Gels, rubs, and hand wipes all work well, as long as they contain at least 60% alcohol. Hand wipes must be disposed of properly. Always read and follow label instructions when using hand sanitizer.
Wash their hands often. Washing with soap and hot water for at least 20 seconds is ideal (about as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice).
Keep their hands away from their face and avoid touching their mouth, nose, or eyes.
Cover coughs and sneezes with tissues or by coughing into the inside of their elbow. Cough or sneeze into your sleeve—not your hands!
Action Steps for Parents if School is Dismissed or Children are Sick and Must Stay Home
Be prepared to support home learning activities if the school makes them available. Your child’s school may offer web-based lessons, instructional phone calls, and other types of distance learning. Have school materials, such as text books, workbooks, and homework packets available at home.
Have activities for your children to do while at home. Pull together games, books, DVDs and other items to keep your family entertained.
Find out if your employer will allow you to stay at home to care for sick household members or children dismissed from school. Ask if you can work from home. If this is not possible, find other ways to care for your children at home.
If school is dismissed, monitor the school’s website, local news, and other sources for information about returning to school.
Tips for taking care of children (and other household members) with the flu
Stay home if you or your child is sick until at least 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of a fever-reducing medicine). Keeping sick students at home means that they keep their viruses to themselves rather than sharing them with others. Stay home even if taking antiviral medicines.
Cover coughs and sneezes. Clean hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often and especially after coughing or sneezing.
Keep sick household members in a separate room (a sick room) in the house as much as possible to limit contact with household members who are not sick. Consider designating a single person as the main caregiver for the sick person.
Monitor the health of the sick child and any other household members by checking for fever and other symptoms of flu. A fever is a temperature taken with a thermometer that is equal to or greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius). If you are not able to measure a temperature, the sick person might have a fever if he or she feels warm, has a flushed appearance, or is sweating or shivering.
Watch for emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention. Warning signs include:
~ Fast breathing or trouble breathing
~ Bluish or gray skin color
~ Not drinking enough fluids
~ Not urinating or no tears when crying
~ Severe or persistent vomiting
~ Not waking up or not interacting
~ Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
~ Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
~ Sudden dizziness
~ Confusion
~ Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Check with your doctor about any special care needed for household members who may be at higher risk for complications from flu. This includes children under the age of 5 years, pregnant women, people of any age who have chronic medical conditions (such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease), and people age 65 years and older.
Have the sick household member wear a facemask – if available and tolerable – when sharing common spaces with other household members to help prevent spreading the virus to others. This is especially important if other household members are at high risk for complications from flu.
Ask your doctor about antiviral medicines or fever-reducing medicines for sick household members. Do not give aspirin to children or teenagers; it can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome
Make sure sick household members get plenty of rest and drink clear fluids (such as water, broth, sports drinks, electrolyte beverages for infants) to keep from being dehydrated.
If a household member is sick, keep any school-aged brothers or sisters home for 5 days from the time the household member became sick. Parents should monitor their health and the health of other school-aged children for fever and other symptoms of the flu.
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Action Steps for Schools
to Prevent the Spread of Flu
Take the following steps to help keep students, teachers, and staff from getting sick with flu.
These steps should be followed ALL the time and not only during a flu pandemic.
Educate and encourage students and staff to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Also, provide them with easy access to tissues and running water and soap or alcohol-based hand cleaners. Remind them to cover coughs or sneezes using their elbow instead of their hand when a tissue is not available.
Remind teachers, staff, and students to practice good hand hygiene and provide the time and supplies for them to wash their hands as often as necessary.
Send sick students, teachers, and staff home and advise them and their families that sick people should stay at home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medicine).
Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact such as desks, door knobs, keyboards, or pens, with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas.
Move students, teachers, and staff to a separate room if they become sick at school until they can be sent home. Limit the number of staff who take care of the sick person and provide a surgical mask for the sick person to wear if they can tolerate it.
Encourage early medical evaluation for sick students and staff at higher risk of complications from flu. People at high risk of flu complications who get sick will benefit from early treatment with antiviral medicines.
Stay in regular communication with local public health officials.
If the flu conditions become MORE severe, schools should consider adding the following steps:
Allow high-risk students, teachers, and staff to stay home. These students, teachers, and staff should make this decision in consultation with their physician and/or health professional.
Conduct active fever and symptom screening of students, teachers, and staff upon arrival at school. Any sick students, teacher, or staff should be separated from others, offered a surgical mask, and sent home.
Find ways to increase social distances (the space between people) at school such as rotating teachers between classrooms while keeping the same group of students in one classroom, moving desks farther apart, or postponing class trips.
Consider how and when to dismiss students by working closely with your local and state public health officials. If you decide to dismiss all students, notify CDC and your state health and education agency by reporting a school or school district dismissal at www.cdc.gov/FluSchoolDismissal.
Follow these steps to prepare for the flu during the 2009-2010 school year:
Review and revise existing pandemic plans and focus on protecting high-risk students, teachers, and staff.
Update student, teacher, and staff contact information as well as emergency contact lists.
Identify and establish points of contact with the local public health and education agencies.
Develop a plan to cover key staff positions, such as the school nurse, when staff stay home because they are sick.
Develop communication tools (e.g., letters to parents, Web site postings) that can be used to send sick students home, dismiss students, and to remind parents and staff how long sick students and staff should remain at home. Check out Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Schools (Grades K-12) for basic information and communication resources such as letters and flyers for parents. The toolkit is available at www.flu.govExternal Web Site Icon..
Review school policies and awards criteria to encourage social distancing and avoiding any incentives for students or staff to go to school when sick (e.g., cancel perfect attendance awards).
Develop a school dismissal plan and options for how school work can be continued at home (e.g., homework packets, Web-based lessons, phone calls), if school is dismissed or students are sent home when sick.
Collaborate with the local health department, community organizations, local businesses and social services on a plan for flu response.
Help families and communities understandthe important roles they can play in reducing the spread of flu in schools.
