Cautions taken for flu
Published 10:32 am Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Vaccines still available
With the flu hitting its stride, people are heading out for immunizations and schools are reminding kids to wash their hands.
Lawrence County Health Department’s immunization coordinator Linda Howard, RN, says they’ve seen an increase in people coming in to get a flu shot.
“We’re still pushing the flu shot since we are in the peak season,” she explained. “We still have plenty of flu vaccine. We are giving a lot of shots because it has peaked and people are hearing a lot about it on the news.”
Many people were concerned because they know people who are sick with the flu and have seen on the news that there have been 20 pediatric deaths from the flu nationwide. In Ohio, according to the Associated Press, there have been four deaths including a 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy, both of Columbiana County; a 7-year-old girl in Fulton County and a 6-year-old girl in Cuyahoga County. One child died during the previous flu season, which spans from October to May, and six died during that same period between 2014 and 2015.
It is recommended that everyone six months and older get a flu shot.
Howard said that this year’s flu vaccine has been effective with the types of flu going around.
“Although that means if you did get the flu shot, you won’t get the flu,” she said. “But they seemed to have gotten the recipe right this year.
Howard said that the flu season lasts until April or May. Last year, they got reports of the flu into June “because the season started so late last year. The major portion of people didn’t start getting sick until March. This year, we are pretty much in tune with what is usual with it peaking in late January and early February.”
Symmes Valley didn’t have classes on Wednesday but not because of sickness. They were notified by Hecla Water that a water main was being moved and the water was going to be shut off from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. so the students had a day off.
“They won’t be half as happy as the teachers,” said Superintendent Daryl Humphries, laughing.
He said the flu hadn’t been affecting attendance much.
“We only had 18 students absent district-wide today,” he said on Tuesday afternoon. There are around 800 students in the district. “If anything, we are very happy with the attendance.”
Humphries said there is hand sanitizer available and students are reminded to wash their hands so as not to spread germs and to prevent illnesses.
“It’s an ongoing effort to educate kids about hygiene,” he said.
Humphries said that in his 23 years as an educator, he has never seen school called off because of illnesses.
“I don’t know if we have a policy in place on that but it is something that you would take a hard look at if the numbers got up around a 20 or 30 percent absentee rate,” he said. “If it’s that bad and you bring people together, you’re only going to infect more people.”
Dawson-Bryant Superintendent Steve Easterling said the district hasn’t been hit with the flu too badly so far. There were ten students out at the middle school and twelve at the high school on Tuesday. The school district has around 1,100 students.
Easterling said they took measures this year to avoid students and staff from getting the flu.
“For the last several weeks we have doubled up on disinfecting everything and keeping everything pretty much clean,” he said. “We took preventative measures before the season really hit. So right now, we have had a few cases of stomach virus but as far as the flu, we haven’t had that big of a number. But the flu really hasn’t been a problem.”
Howard said the best way to avoid getting the flu is to get immunized and to wash your hands after you are out in public.
“Germs are every where, they are on handrails, and they are on doorknobs and shopping carts. Anywhere you go, you will be exposed and the best thing to do is wash your hands, even if you have gotten the flu shot,” she said.
Hand sanitizer helps but doesn’t take the place of soap and water.
“Washing your hands with warm water and soap is your best defense after you’ve gotten your flu shot,” Howard said, adding you need to wash your hands for about 30 seconds. “It does work.”