The H1N1 Virus at Urban
December 10, 2009
Filed under News
By Sabrina Werby and Madeline May
As flu season approaches, The Urban School is preparing for a possible outbreak of the H1N1 virus, more commonly known as the swine flu. According to Elena Fuentes-Afflick, Chief of Pediatrics of San Francisco General Hospital, professor of pediatrics at UCSF, and vice chair of the department of pediatrics, individuals between the ages of 19 and 24 are one of the priority populations with the highest risk of catching the flu. Because of this, Dr. Fuentes-Afflick predicts that high schools will be one of places most affected by the H1N1 virus.
On Sept. 1 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted at a Richmond lab that one in four Californians will become infected with the H1N1 flu. The lab, which specializes in research about the H1N1 virus and its treatment, expected the vaccine to be released at the end of October. Though with the threat of H1N1 rising the release date of the vaccine was bumped up. The CDC reports that the vaccine was delivered to San Francisco Clinics on Tuesday, Oct. 6. As of the beginning of September, the virus has claimed 188 lives in California, according to the California Department of Public Health, Center for Infectious Diseases. The next official death toll update will not be released until late October. Unlike other flus, swine flu didn’t abate with the onset of summer.
As the traditional flu season draws nearer, Urban administrators are cautious. “It is around. It’s very active,” said Mark Salkind, head of school, of the H1N1 virus.
According to Fuentes-Afflick, the problem is, “if you start out with one or two people who are sick, the virus is probably going to run through the school population … it could take maybe six weeks or two months to run through the whole school.” That said, “There is a lot we don’t understand yet about the H1N1 virus,” Fuentes-Afflick continued.
Urban is taking several precautions to prevent H1N1 from spreading, according to Salkind. He described Urban’s approach as “basic, fundamental, and low-tech,” including encouraging students to wash hands, providing hand sanitizer around the school, urging students to stay home when sick, and having cleaning crews regularly sanitize the school.
For students, the biggest concern is missing school. “One of my friends has been out of school for two and a half weeks, and I really don’t want to miss that much school”, says Sean Judkins-Boeri, a junior. “I’m not really scared, but I am kind of worried about it.”
Salkind added that “one of the biggest keys to stopping the spread” of H1N1 is staying home when symptoms appear. “It’s difficult, I understand”, Salkind added. “If you miss a week, that’s a lot of work”.
An Urban student, who had H1N1 earlier this year and who asked to remain anonymous, described the disease as “kinda the same” as the common flu. The student’s symptoms included insomnia, a sore throat, a bad cough, stomach pain, fever, and throwing up. However, unlike more common flus, the student said, “the cough thing didn’t start until two days in.
According to the student, the first symptoms were stomach pains and fatigue. The illness lasted five days. Missing school 6 days of school was “pretty hard,” the student said. When it came to making up missed assignments, different teachers took different approaches. Some teachers didn’t get back to the student, even though the student emailed them; “they didn’t tell me what I needed to do,” the student complained. Other teachers excused the student from certain homework assignments.
In an effort to keep track of possible illness at Urban, the school is now taking a more proactive role in knowing who is sick. Families are asked if their absent teenager is sick, and if so, what the illness is. One sentence here about how nobody is testing, however, so at best parents and guardians can give a guess based on the known symptoms of H1N1.
If students get infected, Salkind says that it is important to communicate with teachers and advisers. Teachers are willing to be flexible, he said. HIPE’s Epstein says that teachers “all have emergency back-up plans.” However, Urban has “not given teachers explicitly any instructions” about how to deal with students missing school due to the H1N1 virus, according to Salkind.
Teachers could also fall ill with H1N1, in which case, according to Dr. Fuentes-Afflick , they could be absent for anywhere from five to 10 days. In this case, says Salkind, Urban would turn to its pool of regular substitutes.
Even if swine flu strikes Urban as it has other high schools, Salkind said that the chances of school closure are small. Urban would close only if too many people were sick, and the school could not normally operate, or if the severity of the virus increases dramatically, he said.
If Urban were to close due to the flu, students might find themselves going to school anyway — in a digital way. Plans for an “e-School” are “quite fleshed out,” according to Salkind. This “E-school” would be held during normal a FirstClass type program. Although it would not be as productive as regular school, it would allow for effective class work to be completed, Salkind said.
So while school closure seems unlikely, Urban should watch out for the H1N1 virus. Luckily, this season’s flu “doesn’t appear to be that much more serious”, says Salkind. Hopefully Urban is equipped to handle the onset of H1N1, however harmful the strain may be.
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