I read an eye-opening article on msnbc (I was unable to post the link). Over 114 children have died from Swine Flu since April, with 19 deaths last week alone making it the deadliest week for H1N1 so far this year for kids. Scary.
My youngest has it. He went via ambulance to the ER on Sunday because he passed out. The ER doctor said that he could not test because the CDC only allowed for testing under the following 2 reasons: you are dead or you are in ICU. With all of my son's symptoms the dr. was 99.9% sure it was H1N1.
Today was a PD day, but I already have three e-mails stating that their children will not be at school. Two of them have flu-like symptoms... I'm not sure about the third.
There is one identified case at our school. It happens to be in the class next door... the same class that we had our Halloween party with.
I had a kid out all last week. Today I had 2 kids out. Usually I have 100% attendance. I hope that they are okay. I don't have kids of my own, so I worry about my students.
Ok... so there are now 12 of my 24 students absent today. One of those is on vacation, one of those has not contacted me, but the rest are because they are sick. Some may have swine flu, some are just being extra cautious. One has swine flu for sure.
So irritating to have to completely change your plans since half the class isn't there... but on the flip side, it has been an absolutely GLORIOUS day!
There's a case here & there in my area. I work w/ small grps of kids for 30 min at a time these days. After every 30 min time block is over, I wash my hands in the sink that happens to be in the classroom. That particular sink only has cold water, but it's better than nothing!
I work w/ the kids at the semicircular table, but I sit far from them, but NOT too far where it looks like I'm afraid to be near them.
I continuously tell the students to cover their mouths & even turn their heads to sneeze & cough. Hopefully all my talking will sink in.
But, I HATE when I'm trying to be so careful & out of the blue when I least expect it, some little kid coughs pretty close to my face!
I've ALWAYS taken vitamins, but these days, I take more vitamin C than usual, etc.
They are being careful around here. Kids are to use hand sanitizers and we have to spray our rooms down with lysol. Anyway, we also have dengue going around, which many kids and teachers from our school have already had.
