Flu hits Beaver River school

BEAVER FALLS — The Beaver River Central School District was hit Monday with an apparent flu outbreak, but officials from the district and Lewis County Public Health said there doesn't yet appear to be cause for concern.

"Right now, there is no reason to get nervous," said Carol A. Paluck, interim director of the Lewis County Public Health Agency. "The main thing is to keep these kids home if they're sick."

Mrs. Paluck said her agency has been monitoring absentee rates in the county's five school districts. While Beaver River's rate was about normal Friday, it spiked Monday, she said.

District Superintendent Leueen Smithling said absenteeism and nurses' office visits were more than twice as high as normal, with 279 students either absent or sent home and three teachers and four teaching assistants absent. Many have exhibited flu-like symptoms, she said.

The district, which held homecoming festivities over the weekend, has an enrollment of 940, meaning about 30 percent of students were absent or sent home.

District officials have no plans to close the school unless staff absences increase dramatically, Mrs. Smithling said.

"We're staying open, with business as usual," she said.

The district sent letters home with students describing ways to limit the spread of the flu virus, Mrs. Smithling said. Based on a recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children with flu-like symptoms are to stay home until at least 24 hours after their fevers have subsided without the aid of medication, she said.

The school also is planning an informational session for parents either Wednesday or Thursday night, depending upon availability of state public health officials, Mrs. Smithling said.

The school's maintenance staff is doing extra cleaning and disinfecting to help prevent further spread of disease, she said.

"I want to commend my staff," Mrs. Smithling said. "I'm very proud of them."

The superintendent said she sought advice Monday from her counterpart at West Canada Valley Central School in Newport, Herkimer County, which had a similar outbreak last month.

No one will be tested for the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, unless they have severe symptoms and require hospitalization, Mrs. Paluck said. So far, no county residents are in that category, she said.

Health officials had expected to see a rise in flu cases once children returned to school, she said.

"They're so good at sharing things," Mrs. Paluck said.

Lewis County Public Health does have some doses of the powerful antiviral drug Tamiflu, but those are being reserved for the very young, very old or those with an underlying health condition, Mrs. Paluck said.

Some doses of H1N1 vaccine also have arrived, but only in mist form, meaning it may be administered only to healthy people between the ages of 2 and 49, she said.

Mrs. Paluck said she expects the free injectable vaccine will be available by the middle of the month at Public Health and local doctors' offices and health centers for residents in high-risk groups. They include pregnant women, caregivers of children younger than 6 months, health-care workers and emergency medical service providers, children 6 months to young adults 24 years old, and people ages 25 to 64 who have an underlying health condition.