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H1N1 Information for N-MUSD
Audience: Assistant Principals, Associates, Parents, Principals, Staff, Students, Sys Admins, Teachers, Homepage and All Staff Unique ID

The District has hosted two H1N1 flu clinics during the past two weeks.  We have been fortunate to provide over 3,500 vaccines to our Newport-Mesa families.  We continue to request additional supplies of the vaccine from the county and hope to offer future clinics.

We will keep the website updated with any new information http://nmusd.ca.schoolloop.com/swineflu

We continue to track absenteeism information and wanted to make you aware of the district’s protocols for handling reported cases.

  • The school nurses are currently tracking absences and reasons for absences for staff and students at each site via the assistance of school staff
  • Currently, there are two factors that indicate action needs to be taken at a school site: 1) if absences reach 10% of an individual schools site’s average daily attendance or (2 a cluster of students are identified as being absent (a cluster is 20% or more of a class; a minimum of 5 students per class.
  • If 1 or 2 occurs, the school nurse contacts the Orange County Health Care agency for advisement on how to proceed with the current situation
  • The District office is then notified
  • The Principal, in coordination with the nurse and health services department initiate the next steps. In cases from last year and currently, a letter has been sent home to families informing them of the increase in absences.
  • Students or staff who exhibit a fever or signs/symptoms of a flu like virus will be sent home. Students and staff are asked not to return to school or the office until after 24 hours of being fever free without the aid of fever reducing medicines.
We have experienced confirmed cases of H1N1 throughout the District. However, an increase in absenteeism does not automatically mean that these schools are experiencing confirmed cases of H1N1. There are a myriad of reasons students and staff members are out; seasonal flu, cold, etc.
 
No school closures are planned at this time and it should be noted that the OC Health Agency has changed their approach to this process since last year and has indicated that school closures would be a last step.
Posted by: Laura Boss
Published:11/19/09