wow. 140 out sick due to flu symptoms.

[swellmomma]

My dd takes sewing classes wed afternoons at a junior high/high school. The sewing teacher made a comment to me today, that she is very happy we are homeschooling. Today at that 1 school alone they had 140 kids out sick with flu symptoms. Total population of the school is like 800-900 students. That is a huge percentage of th student body, compared to a normal flu season. It is not even end of Oct yet, flu season should barely even be starting, and that many are already out sick, yikes.

 

Our homeschool group sent out a warning email today to everyone that if your child even has the sniffles to stay home from group tomorrow. I think that is going overboard, but I guess they are trying to keep everyone risk free. Littest dd has had a cough for 3.5 weeks now so I am unsure if we are going. The email said anyone with cough, sniffles, or flu symptoms will be asked to leave immediately(it is a family type thing so I could not drop my 3 school agers off and taking coughing baby away, though I doubt it is flu of any kind).

 

Our fine arts program has everyone clean hands with sanitizer upon arriving and then as they switch classes in the night. So far this has helped stop the spread of anything. We have been warned though that if the school shuts down due to flu, our program will be cancelled even though we are not affliated with the school (our program is run after hours utilizing a few classrooms).

 

Personally I think of the 3 situations, the fine arts one has it right. They are taking reasonable precautions without over reacting. Yup, I am very glad to be homeschooling and making sure their exposure to anything (flu, cold, etc) is limited. I am still surprised to hear 140 were out sick today alone.

[JFSinIL]

South of us in St. Charles a school had over 900 kids (and a few dozen teachers out) and has had to close. My kid's high school yesterday had 180 out (of abotu 2,000) and the administration said if a few dozen more call in sick today they will close. But even then, 200 kids is 10%.... St. Charles had over 45% out sick!!!

[katemary63]

Our tiny local school system has 18% out due to flu over all grades. They will close the school at 25%.

[KidsHappen]

Is TN not being hit particularly hard? I am just not seeing that much flu here. I hear about somebody that knows somebody that had the flu but do not personally knw of anyone who has had it. I not really hearing about a lot in GA either. I have one brother who got both flus this year but he had pneumonia first and has health problem already. I am just really curious why I am hearing about all these flu cases everywhere and yet I am not seeing it locally.

[patchfire]

It ran through this area (northwest suburb of Atlanta) back in August and September. There were several schools that apparently had 10-12 kids out in each classroom, or so I've been told, anyway. When it went through here, though, it seems to have been pretty mild, all in all.

 

One of our outside activities has a clearly articulated policy about not coming if you're at all sick, but that has always been the case - one of the attendees is immunocompromised in some way, I believe. Our other stuff doesn't have any policy... though I think there should be something!

[Matryoshka]

Is TN not being hit particularly hard? I am just not seeing that much flu here. I hear about somebody that knows somebody that had the flu but do not personally knw of anyone who has had it. I not really hearing about a lot in GA either. I have one brother who got both flus this year but he had pneumonia first and has health problem already. I am just really curious why I am hearing about all these flu cases everywhere and yet I am not seeing it locally.

 

It's definitely hitting some places much harder than others. Here in MA, I've even read in the papers that there isn't much going on, especially compared to other parts of the country - which is another reason why I doubt the ick we had a couple of weeks ago (sore throat, fatigue, cough, etc.) was anything but a nasty fall cold.

 

But just because it isn't going crazy here now doesn't mean it may not hit hard later in the season. It's still early.

[fivetails]

I've hardly heard *anything* on the news for our province - I heard about how crazy it is in BC right now...

 

They'll be starting H1N1 shots here (AB) come Mondayish - are you guys going, Brandy?

 

I still only know one person IRL who *might* have had it, a few weeks ago. We *might* have had it back in late March, not sure. Few weeks ago, friend's 18yr old daughter was very sick for a week with a flu-ish thing.

[Earth Angel_79]

I doubt all the students out have flu symptoms. If I were psing I would probably keep my kids out if I heard of a lot of kids being pulled out b/c of flu, but then again it wouldn't take much for me to pull them out for any ole reason. ;)

For what its worth, I don't think I've heard about much in our area yet either. I'm in Southeast Ohio.

[Tree House Academy]

Is TN not being hit particularly hard? I am just not seeing that much flu here. I hear about somebody that knows somebody that had the flu but do not personally knw of anyone who has had it. I not really hearing about a lot in GA either. I have one brother who got both flus this year but he had pneumonia first and has health problem already. I am just really curious why I am hearing about all these flu cases everywhere and yet I am not seeing it locally.

 

 

Your part of TN was hit harder in theSpring. In my part of TN, we are JUST NOW being hit hard. It sort of went up the middle and south of the US and now it is going North. We are in the very northeast tip of TN. Knoxville was hit hard a few months after Nashville area (Memphis seemed to have it first), and now it has moved up to us. I am so glad to hear it is not hitting hard there now, though! That is actually great news!

[Melissa in FL]

Our homeschool group sent out a warning email today to everyone that if your child even has the sniffles to stay home from group tomorrow. I think that is going overboard, but I guess they are trying to keep everyone risk free.

 

 

Our co-op sent out a similar e-mail about keeping kids home if they are showing any sign of being sick. Ours worded it like that to try to prevent the few people that will bring their kids in even if they are REALLY sick. I think there are fewer of those parents in the homeschool group, but there are still some. They wanted to make it very clear that they will send them home this year even though they have left it up to the parents in past years. Even with that ultra specific e-mail, they have already had to tell one parent to take their child and go home! The kid was very lethargic and obviously sick, but was at co-op anyway.

 

Also, I know several homeschool family's that homeschool because their child is immune compromised. You would never know it by looking at them, but they are the ones that really need parents to keep sick kids home. They are kids, just like mine, and I think they should be able to go to a once a week co-op without having to worry about other people bringing sick kids.

Melissa

[swellmomma]

Our co-op sent out a similar e-mail about keeping kids home if they are showing any sign of being sick. Ours worded it like that to try to prevent the few people that will bring their kids in even if they are REALLY sick. I think there are fewer of those parents in the homeschool group, but there are still some. They wanted to make it very clear that they will send them home this year even though they have left it up to the parents in past years. Even with that ultra specific e-mail, they have already had to tell one parent to take their child and go home! The kid was very lethargic and obviously sick, but was at co-op anyway.

 

Also, I know several homeschool family's that homeschool because their child is immune compromised. You would never know it by looking at them, but they are the ones that really need parents to keep sick kids home. They are kids, just like mine, and I think they should be able to go to a once a week co-op without having to worry about other people bringing sick kids.

Melissa

 

I can understand that BUT the flip side is now my entire family will not be able to participate all year. This is a co-op type program, the kids each have 3 classes to attend based on their grade level, 1 is a phys ed class(this month the focus was on volleyball skills), a science experiement and I can't remember the last thing. Plus they have 3 workshops for parents much like a conference. It run every other thursday. If you can't bring them with even the tiniest sniffle or cough then that leaves us out all year. With 4 kids there is not a week that goes by without one of them having that. 9/10 it is allergy related, however the program wants a dr's note for that child dated each week saying if it is allergy or not. I am not going to the dr every other week just for this program.

 

I can see trying to prevent a flu outbreak, and I understand trying to protect immunocompromised kids. But where do you draw the line? Why should many have to miss out all year because of few? This is not a program where kids get dropped off, so the parent is with them and they can be asked to leave if the child is truely sick, or coughing a lot etc. I just hink the policy is an over reaction to the situation and is going to cause a lot of families to be unable to participate at all with their healthy children.

 

Fivetails- no we are not going for the hini flu shot. In previous years we have gotten the reg flu shot due to having prem babies and babysitting one's with heart or kidney disease. Last year none of us got the shot and we were all healthier than we had been previous years. After Isabelle had the reaction she did to her first shots, cdc told us never to immunize her again unless benefits outweighed risks, and the risks are extremely high. In the case of hini I do not think the possible benefit of the shot is worth the risk of the reaction. The reaction could/would be much more severe than the flu at this point. I made the same choice for the others. As it is the bigs are going through the hep b series right now and not very happy with me, I don't want to be adding extra shots for no reason. We'll take out chances with h1n1 this year.

 

on an weird note, has anyone else read h1n1 as hini "hiney" when reading these threads fast? Maybe it is just me. :tongue_smilie:

[JFSinIL]

I kept one kid home today - but it is my SillyAutismBoy who has a head cold and poor sanitary habits - I doubted whether his aide would want to spend the day sitting next to a sniffling snot-nosed kid! Plus some of the other kids at the special school he attends have compromised immune systems, so better for them if MereHeadColdSillyAutismBoy stays home.

 

I do have to tell the schools when i call in a sick kid nowadays "NOT FLU - just (whatever it is)"

[BigMamaBird]

Our local school district had 14% out sick on Monday, then on Tuesday it was 25%. :001_huh: They closed the school.

[hornblower]

I can see trying to prevent a flu outbreak, and I understand trying to protect immunocompromised kids. But where do you draw the line? Why should many have to miss out all year because of few?

 

Well, some would say because it's very unpredictable and the latest data is that almost 50% of the very serious hospital admissions are among previously healthy people. So you can't just say that the immunocompromised ones should stay home while the rest of us get on with our lives & that would solve the problem. It wouldn't.

 

Flutrackers' tally of US pediatric deaths stands at 175.

 

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127174

many of these had NO underlying causes.

 

Just as a comparison - & btw, pediatric flu deaths are actually known exactly because they are reportable (unlike general flu deaths for the overall population) - these are the historic #'s since it became reportable.

 

These #'s are for the ENTIRE winter season, spanning usually 6 mos. Consider the high # we have already this year, before the end of October.

 

During the 2003-04 season, 153 flu-associated deaths in children were reported to CDC. (This data was collected by CDC.)

During the 2004-05 season, 47 deaths in children were reported to CDC. (This is the first year that influenza mortality in children became a nationally reportable condition.)

During the 2005-06 season, 46 deaths in children were reported to CDC.

During the 2006-07 season, 76 deaths in children were reported to CDC.

 

 

It's a preventable disease. Shouldn't we try to prevent it? So we wouldn't have this:

The dead children thread:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124781 - news stories, with photographs. Hard to look at.

 

I agree it's tough to miss stuff all year. But for the good of the community as a whole, I think people should put in some social distancing measures where we can. We are lucky in that for most of us this is a choice we can make. There are many places in the world & many people in circumstances where not only do they not have these choices, they also do not have access to medical care if they do get sick....

[Karla in Oregon]

Uh, because those few could die? It would be much better for some people to miss out on something than to have even one child die. Where's the compassion? It's not always me, me, me. I'm sorry, but that comment made me so sad/sick and not for my family, but for all the families out there with immunocompromised children.

 

That makes no sense to me. How about having the immunocompromised child not participate in co-op? Doesn't that make a lot more sense? The rest of the world needs to keep moving. And don't normal healthy children need to experience a certain amount of colds and flus to build up their immune system? I quit a co-op because they had such a silly sickness policy.

[swellmomma]

Uh, because those few could die? It would be much better for some people to miss out on something than to have even one child die. Where's the compassion? It's not always me, me, me. I'm sorry, but that comment made me so sad/sick and not for my family, but for all the families out there with immunocompromised children.

 

 

I am not talking about only me, but of all the families that have to miss because of allergies etc, not illness, because of a rule made for 1 child. I want my children to participate just as much as that family wants their child to, (as do other families that are excluded due to a sniffle or minor cough). FTR based on the email it does not seem this rule was made due to an immunocompromised child, it is due to fear of h1n1. Based on those I spoke to this morning there is 13 kids missing out due to minor cough and sniffles. No one had fever, major cough(for example, dd mainly coughs after lieing down, otherwise she is running around fine, not coughing all the time), etc. I fully 100% agree with keeping sick kids home. BUt to have it so otherwise healthy kids with a sniffle or minor cough have to miss out means a lot of kids lose out on the chance to participate.

 

Also my concern as far as my family goes, is based on the way we are registered, my kids have to reach the same outcomes for PE as the ps kids, that means they need to learn the basics of sports like volleyball and such. This program was our chance to meet those requirements, or face problems with our school board. It is our school board running the program, supposedly to ensure we all meet those requirements, but then so many have to be excluded for the year, meaning req will not be met, which means I could face major issues with my board at the end of the year. Other families will be facing this same issue as me, due to a rule made that I think was going overboard.

 

Yes rules need to be made to help prevent the spread of illness, I have always had them working in daycare etc. But this one is more extreme than any I have worked with in my 20 years of childcare. I am not risking other kids, I am keeping my kids home. I am just frustrated that we will now face issues, and possibly face the board trying to force my kids back into ps at the end of the year, because we could not attend a program designed to meet those req kwim.

[Wendi]

The medical face masks in public now. I know they are common in some cultures now (Japan?). People with compromised immune systems should probably be wearing them in public these days, if they're concerned about the flu. (Or even every time they're in public, if their situation is severe.)

 

And people who have colds could wear them, so they don't sneeze or cough all over everyone. Good idea?

 

Wendi

[swellmomma]

And people who have colds could wear them, so they don't sneeze or cough all over everyone. Good idea?

 

Wendi

 

I think it is a good idea. Everyone who came in contact with Isabelle for the first fiew months after she was born wore them if they had any sniffle etc because she was prem. I would more than willing to buy them and use them if I thought the program would then let the kids in. THough I don't know how hard it is to keep on on a 2 yr old, and she is the one with the minor cough.

[Karla in Oregon]

It makes sense because even healthy children shouldn't have to be exposed to others just because the sick ones don't feel like staying home. Actually, I bet they do, but their parents don't Besides, the most of the extra rules didn't come about for your basic cold/flu...they appeared when everyone realized how bad this flu is... it's killing even healthy kids.

 

Well the co-op I referred to, I quit last winter before the flu outbreak. My kids have allergies and I feel kids with allergies should be allowed to attend a co-op. And can't we all give each other a little grace? Hasn't everyone sent their kid to some event and then the next day realized that the kid has a cold? We can't always know what is going on inside our children's bodies. And aren't lots of people carriers without having any symptoms? It seems like eventually this hysteria will lead to no one ever leaving their homes.

[swellmomma]

Is there any other way to meet your PE requirements? That is worrisome...

 

YEs, but it will cost me $$ and a lot more time. They were going to meet their req by attending this every other week for free. As it is we have activities 4 days a week, I have my first dayhome kids starting in the next week or so and they are here Saturdays only. so that leave Monday nights to find a place for the kids to participate. Other homeschool pe classes I have found during the week run at about $200 per kid for 6-8 weeks, with 3 kids needing to attend it adds up WAY too fast. I will figure something out, I have no other choice.

 

oh another side note, got another email today that my family is approved to go visit in the senior's complex with our school baord fieldtrip. I asked about dd's cough and they said it posed no risk and we could attend. SO we can not attend co-op type classes to meet requirements due to her cough, but can go to the old folk's home no problem. (it is 2 different teachers running these events, each has their own rules)

[hornblower]

That makes no sense to me. How about having the immunocompromised child not participate in co-op? Doesn't that make a lot more sense? The rest of the world needs to keep moving. And don't normal healthy children need to experience a certain amount of colds and flus to build up their immune system? I quit a co-op because they had such a silly sickness policy.

 

repeating again, almost 1/2 of the seriously ill (requiring ventilation in the ICU) have NO underlying health conditions. They're not immuno compromised. We don't know why they got it so badly.

 

Some die. Walter Brooks. 18.

 

His parents say Walter was never sick -- until he got what appeared to be a cold last weekend. It got worse, quickly. On Tuesday the 13th Walter's temperature was 102. His mother, Denise, took him to the emergency room at Baltimore-Washington Medical Center. ‘They said that even if it was the flu that it was too late for them to give him any kind of medication because he had a little bit of symptoms the days before,’ she said.

 

She says doctors did not draw blood, take a chest x-ray or test for the flu. They sent him home with an inhaler and some cough medicine. The next morning, October 14th, Walter was clearly in distress. ‘you could hear him having problems breathing; it just didn't seem right,’ Denise Brooks said.

 

This time his mother took him to Harbor Hospital. Doctors tested for the flu and measured the oxygen level in Walter's lungs and his blood. It was extremely low. ‘So the doctor turns to us and says, 'Do you really know how sick your kid is,’’ she said.

 

Doctors inserted a tube into Walter's lungs to help him breathe -- and he was rushed to the University of Maryland Hospital. He never recovered. ‘We even came down to having to amputate both of his legs yesterday morning; they told us that it gave him a possibility to make it and then last night he just, couldn't do it anymore,’ she said.

 

...

 

‘He was the greatest person i ever knew and he was my son,’

 

http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/Parents-Detail-Sons-Battle-Against-H1N1/zJ4yr15j1UqgC9oYn6_-Xg.cspx

[swellmomma]

Yeah, that's expensive.

 

Is there any way you can get a note from your pediatrician so your little one can attend?

 

 

Like I said before they want a new dr's note each week for any sniffles, cough etc to prove it is not flu. I simply don't have teh time to waste sitting at the dr's for hours every other week for a stupid little note. I'll figure something out, it is just very frustrating that this fear over a flu has created.

[unsinkable]

repeating again, almost 1/2 of the seriously ill (requiring ventilation in the ICU) have NO underlying health conditions. They're not immuno compromised. We don't know why they got it so badly.

 

Some die. Walter Brooks. 18.

 

http://www.abc2news.com/news/local/story/Parents-Detail-Sons-Battle-Against-H1N1/zJ4yr15j1UqgC9oYn6_-Xg.cspx

 

That poor, poor family.

[swellmomma]

Just realized you said she has a cough... if it's not allergy related (I'm getting everyone confused), the other teacher should have said no. How does she know if poses no risk? I feel like the teacher who did say no is being very responsible.

 

yes she has a cough but it is only present when she has been lieing down. When she sits up from lieing down she has a short lived coughing fit, otherwise she is not coughing at all. No running nose, no sniffles, no fever, clear bright eyes and complexion, eating and playing normally. IMO healthy. One teacher feels she is fine to attend a program with the family the other says the whole family is excluded due to it. I mentioned allergies, because my oldest gets a running nose due to allergies every fall and spring, so he was being excluded as well without a dr's note each week, even though he has always had these allergies present this way.

[CookieMonster]

It was reported here, on Tuesday, that two schools in the area (not my district, but close) have a significant number of students out due to flulike symptoms. One decided to just take the rest of the week off.

 

And the vaccine is still yet not readily available. I've decided to go ahead and vaccinate us, but now I'm thinking it will all be over by the time the vaccine is readily available.

[Melissa B]

I have a sister still at home in Michigan. Her public school has closed for the week. They had 50% of the school population out of school at the beginning of the week for either flu symptoms (or fear of the flu) so they decided to shut down the school!

[Ali in OR]

We had not had many cases that I had heard of here. Then all of a sudden this week LOTS of kids that we know were hit. In my dd's class for special needs kids, 3 of 14 are out. I am now keeping my dd out for the rest of this week and probably next. I was able to get her an h1n1 vaccine yesterday at the health dept where they have a small amount of vaccine for people with medical issues. Now I'm waiting for her to build up some immunity. I don't know when I will be able to get my other two vaccinated--hopefully November.

 

I know it's hard that you can't do an activity with a child who you are pretty sure just has allergies. But there are so many parents out there practicing pretty poor judgement and taking their obviously sick kids out that groups need to make rules that may seem unfair or strict. I appreciate the rules that protect me and my kids from the idiots out there.

[mirth]

deleted

Edited October 23, 2009 by mirth

[Mommyof4ks]

Our co-op sent out a similar e-mail about keeping kids home if they are showing any sign of being sick. Ours worded it like that to try to prevent the few people that will bring their kids in even if they are REALLY sick. I think there are fewer of those parents in the homeschool group, but there are still some. They wanted to make it very clear that they will send them home this year even though they have left it up to the parents in past years. Even with that ultra specific e-mail, they have already had to tell one parent to take their child and go home! The kid was very lethargic and obviously sick, but was at co-op anyway.

 

Also, I know several homeschool family's that homeschool because their child is immune compromised. You would never know it by looking at them, but they are the ones that really need parents to keep sick kids home. They are kids, just like mine, and I think they should be able to go to a once a week co-op without having to worry about other people bringing sick kids.

Melissa

 

You are my new best friend! :001_smile: I have an immune compromised son, and I really appreciate having the opportunity to take my son to co-op for a few hours a week like a normal kid, and thankfully most parents are careful.

[Tree House Academy]

Well, some would say because it's very unpredictable and the latest data is that almost 50% of the very serious hospital admissions are among previously healthy people. So you can't just say that the immunocompromised ones should stay home while the rest of us get on with our lives & that would solve the problem. It wouldn't.

 

Flutrackers' tally of US pediatric deaths stands at 175.

 

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=127174

many of these had NO underlying causes.

 

Just as a comparison - & btw, pediatric flu deaths are actually known exactly because they are reportable (unlike general flu deaths for the overall population) - these are the historic #'s since it became reportable.

 

These #'s are for the ENTIRE winter season, spanning usually 6 mos. Consider the high # we have already this year, before the end of October.

 

During the 2003-04 season, 153 flu-associated deaths in children were reported to CDC. (This data was collected by CDC.)

During the 2004-05 season, 47 deaths in children were reported to CDC. (This is the first year that influenza mortality in children became a nationally reportable condition.)

During the 2005-06 season, 46 deaths in children were reported to CDC.

During the 2006-07 season, 76 deaths in children were reported to CDC.

 

 

It's a preventable disease. Shouldn't we try to prevent it? So we wouldn't have this:

The dead children thread:

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124781 - news stories, with photographs. Hard to look at.

 

I agree it's tough to miss stuff all year. But for the good of the community as a whole, I think people should put in some social distancing measures where we can. We are lucky in that for most of us this is a choice we can make. There are many places in the world & many people in circumstances where not only do they not have these choices, they also do not have access to medical care if they do get sick....

 

Hornblower: WHY does the flutracker number vary SO MUCH from the CDC total of 86? There is a big difference between 86 and 175 - mathmatically speaking. What gives?

 

During the 2003-04 season, my older son had the flu. I remember that, as I was taking care of him, I was hearing news reports from Atlanta (we lived in GA at the time) of healthy kids dying from that strain of flu. Back then, there wasn't even really good reporting set up yet (they started really tracking it the next year) so who knows how many kids with no underlying conditions really died in the 2003-04 flu. I know it was a Fujan strain. My best friend had it that year too (as a 24 year old) and said she was never so sick in her entire life. Oddly enough, in 1996-1997, I had the flu that was absolutely horrific. I went back and looked to see what strain was circulating that year and according to the CDC, one of them was the Fujan strain. No clue if it was the same one, but I was the only one in my house to NOT get the flu after ds had it in 2003, so I have to think I had some immunities. Praise God too - because ds who is now 6 was only 2 mos old and he got the flu too! I was terrified, but he apparently had some of my immunities, because he had a mild fever and lethargy for about 24 hours and recovered amazingly fast. The whole ordeal was absolutely terrifying!

[Mommyof4ks]

I can understand that BUT the flip side is now my entire family will not be able to participate all year. This is a co-op type program, the kids each have 3 classes to attend based on their grade level, 1 is a phys ed class(this month the focus was on volleyball skills), a science experiement and I can't remember the last thing. Plus they have 3 workshops for parents much like a conference. It run every other thursday. If you can't bring them with even the tiniest sniffle or cough then that leaves us out all year. With 4 kids there is not a week that goes by without one of them having that. 9/10 it is allergy related, however the program wants a dr's note for that child dated each week saying if it is allergy or not. I am not going to the dr every other week just for this program.

 

I can see trying to prevent a flu outbreak, and I understand trying to protect immunocompromised kids. But where do you draw the line? Why should many have to miss out all year because of few? This is not a program where kids get dropped off, so the parent is with them and they can be asked to leave if the child is truely sick, or coughing a lot etc. I just hink the policy is an over reaction to the situation and is going to cause a lot of families to be unable to participate at all with their healthy children.

 

Fivetails- no we are not going for the hini flu shot. In previous years we have gotten the reg flu shot due to having prem babies and babysitting one's with heart or kidney disease. Last year none of us got the shot and we were all healthier than we had been previous years. After Isabelle had the reaction she did to her first shots, cdc told us never to immunize her again unless benefits outweighed risks, and the risks are extremely high. In the case of hini I do not think the possible benefit of the shot is worth the risk of the reaction. The reaction could/would be much more severe than the flu at this point. I made the same choice for the others. As it is the bigs are going through the hep b series right now and not very happy with me, I don't want to be adding extra shots for no reason. We'll take out chances with h1n1 this year.

 

on an weird note, has anyone else read h1n1 as hini "hiney" when reading these threads fast? Maybe it is just me. :tongue_smilie:

 

You could put them in a N-95 mask and carry hand cleaner. My cancer kid does this to keep him from getting sick, so slightly sick people could do this also to prevent others from getting sick if you really think it is allergies (they could still be carriers of something else that they could sneeze on someone).

 

ETA:I did not read the whole thread before responding. It is hard to keep a mask on a 2 yr old, but it can be done. My son has been wearing one since he was 19 months old without any trouble. Some kids did avoid him for a while because he looked funny, but they got over it and play fine now.

Edited October 23, 2009 by dwkilburn1

[Tree House Academy]

Uh, because those few could die? It would be much better for some people to miss out on something than to have even one child die. Where's the compassion? It's not always me, me, me. I'm sorry, but that comment made me so sad/sick and not for my family, but for all the families out there with immunocompromised children.

 

I think you and the OP are talking about two different scenarios. She is not saying she doesn't want to keep her kids home when they are truly sick....she is saying that she hates the policy because the "can't even cough" policy cuts out kids who have allergies and asthma (which are NOT contagious) too. And there is no way to go to a dr. to prove this week after week. I understand her POV and I am all for kids staying home when they are truly sick. I don't think that is the issue here.

[hornblower]

Hornblower: WHY does the flutracker number vary SO MUCH from the CDC total of 86? There is a big difference between 86 and 175 - mathmatically speaking. What gives?

 

 

Mostly because flutrackers is "real time" whereas the CDC only updates weekly & only when the state/county authorities officially report the death.

[Mommyof4ks]

The flu it dying down here. It peaked a few weeks back, but now we are not hearing about it much anymore. Many friends had it last month, but this week I only know one family that has it. Some schools here were closed and others were missing 1/2 of the kids.

[Tree House Academy]

Mostly because flutrackers is "real time" whereas the CDC only updates weekly & only when the state/county authorities officially report the death.

 

But still...why would it be THAT big a discrepancy??? I was looking at the CDC site today and they had a graph showing deaths reported during the current week that HAPPENED the current week. I.just.don't.get.it. Where does flu trackers get the info and how do you know it is confirmed swine flu if the state/county authorities haven't made the offical call on the death?

[hornblower]

One of the things that happened with the CDC last week was that they were changing the #'s on the fly. So the report was released with certain #'s and then the #'s changed. Grrrr. Certainly hard to keep track.

 

Flutrackers reports are based on media, public health & family statements gathered either from news organizations or from state/county public health statements. When people try to go back & match up the historical amounts - & someone is trying to do that fro July & Aug, the #'s have, IIRC eventually been close to matching. There are a couple people who have been trying to keep up a spreadsheet & track suspected cases down to see if they were confirmed or not.

 

If you go through the threads, you'll see links to all the news stories or websites where the data comes from. FT isn't making it up. It's all a bunch of volunteer geeks.

 

I don't think CDC is suppressing data either - I just think they're slower because they're not getting #'s from the media, they're getting them from bureaucrats. Sometimes deaths aren't officially reported until the PCR tests/autopsies are completed which may lead to a delay of several weeks. And then they're reported for the week of the death, not necessarily the current week, so the historical counts will go up but not necessarily the current week.... Of course the totals should all add up eventually.

 

CDC should publish a situation update tomorrow so we'll get new official #s (but if it's anything like last week, the #'s might shift the next week....)