Carson City -
Before conducting a press
conference today, announcing two confirmed cases
of H1N1 in southern Nevada residents, in which
one of the cases attends a middle school in
southern Nevada, the State Health Officer, Dr.
Mary Guinan, Southern Nevada Health District
Health Officer, Dr. Lawrence Sands,
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Keith
Rheault and Clark County School District
Superintendent Dr. Walt Rulffes discussed
together whether the school should remain open.
Based upon the current information, all agreed
that the school should not be closed.
“The committee members this
morning reviewed the evaluation criteria
provided in the guidance document,” Dr. Mary
Guinan said. “Because we had this interim
guidance in place, we were able to quickly make
the determination to keep the school open. The
system worked!”
Additionally, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today
released updated interim guidelines for school
dismissal. Based upon new information about the
H1N1 flu virus, CDC’s guidance now does not
recommend “school closure for a suspected or
confirmed case of H1N1 and, in general, is not
advised unless there is a magnitude of faculty
or student absenteeism that interferes with the
school’s ability to function.”
“With the announcement of a
confirmed case of H1N1 flu in a school-aged
child, we had our first opportunity to implement
the school closure guidance document. Working
with school and state health officials we were
able to determine it was not necessary to close
schools and to validate the process we worked so
diligently to put into place,” said Dr. Lawrence
Sands, chief health officer of the Southern
Nevada Health District.
“Working with our education and
health officials this past weekend proved to be
extremely beneficial,” Dr. Keith Rheault said.
“We developed interim guidelines for schools,
prior to having a confirmed case of H1N1 in a
school age child, and the process was used today
to make a very important decision. We will
continue to work with our partners on this
evolving situation.”
Currently, there are five confirmed cases of the
H1N1 flu virus diagnosed in Nevada residents.
Today, Washoe County District Health Department
announced two additional confirmed cases.
These
individuals are relatives of the first confirmed
case who had been in close contact with her.
They are recovering.
To
access the guidelines, please go to:
http://health.nv.gov/PDFs/Flu/Swine_Flu/2009-05-03_SchoolClosure.pdf
For
updated information, please access the following
websites:
Health
Division:
http://health.nv.gov
CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
