Edgewood ISD Confirms One H1N1 Virus Case

All the cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces and all the hand sanitizer in the world cannot keep some illnesses from reaching local schools.

Officials say the best they can do is track the situation and make the best decision for the students if illness becomes too rampant.

Edgewood ISD, which had suffered noticeable absenteeism in its high school and middle school two weeks ago, is now seeing that situation improve some.

The school has one confirmed case of the H1N1 flu virus, EISD Superintendent Jack Shellnutt said, after the student was tested for that specific strain.

Overall, though, the outlook is improving on Edgewood’s campuses.

"It is not as bad as it was. Last week, we had three campuses in single digit absentees,"

However, Shellnutt described an almost-cyclical nature to the spread of flu, which has kept more elementary and intermediate school students home in the last week.

"The elementary and intermediate (percentage of) absences are up a little bit into the teens now, but the high school and middle school have dropped…It is less than it was a couple of weeks ago overall," he said.

In addition, in some cases the illness in question is not flu, but strep throat, Shellnutt said.

"We have had a little strep throat going, mostly in the lower two campuses, and it is not related to the flu from what we’re hearing," he said.

Further east along Highway 80, Fruitvale and Grand Saline schools continue to be relatively unaffected by the big spread of flu hitting other districts.

"We don’t have any confirmed H1N1 cases but do have some confirmed (Type A) flu with some students," Grand Saline ISD Superintendent Mark Keahey said before a school board meeting on Monday.

Keahey added, "It is not at an epidemic level here at this point in time. We don’t feel like it is anything rampant here."

He said precautionary measures and extra cleaning and disinfecting of heavily touched surfaces like door knobs and desks continue.

Likewise, the absenteeism has been at a smaller rate at Hallie Randall Elementary, according to Principal Shannon Orsborn.

"I have not seen a huge affect as far as our district goes. We have no confirmed H1N1 cases," she said.

"Still, our custodians have been on the alert, wiping down doors, handles and doing extra cleaning in classrooms and hallways," Orsborn continued. "At the beginning of the year, we gave each classroom a great big bottle of GermX and the teachers and students have been making use of it."

Fruitvale High School Principal Mark Parkerson said attendance has been "almost 100 percent" recently.

"We have maybe had a few out here and there, but attendance has been very good so far," he said.

In the south part of the county, Martins Mill ISD "has been very fortunate" thus far, according to Superintendent Todd Schneider.

However, he added, illness-based student absences are beginning to creep upward.

"We are starting to see a few more absences in the last couple of days," Schneider said, "and we anticipate there may be more.

"We’re watching the situation carefully but everyone at the school is making a conscious effort to prevent the spread, using the hand sanitizers and wiping down everything as much as we can," he added.

Caution has been raised in the last week due to a spike in illness-related absences in Athens ISD, which borders Martins Mill ISD to the south.

"At Athens, in particular it has hit their fifth and sixth grade levels pretty hard. We will continue to stay in touch with how people are doing in the district around us," said Schneider.

Determining at what point temporarily closing the school becomes a necessity is not as simple as a target number of absences, though.

"If our ADA (average daily attendance) is 96 or 97 percent over the course of the year, if on a certain day it drops 10 percent below that, then you’ve got to look and see if sending kids home is the better idea to keep it from spreading," Schneider said.

"However, we have also been instructed by (state officials) to look back at our calendar during the same time frame and see what was the attendance then," he continued. "We have to see if there are any other factors that may be a reason for attendance to drop…

"We would rather not miss the school day. Even if attendance drops below 70 percent, you can put parents in a bind when you’ve decided to close the next day, so many of them work during the day," Schneider added.

The district has a scheduled immunization session on Thursday, and Schneider said he is hopeful it will be in time for most students to avoid catching the flu.

Prevention against the flu for the general public is on its way soon to several areas of the county.

The Texas Department of State Health Services Region 4/5 North will be conducting seasonal flu shot community clinics in Van Zandt County on the following dates and locations:

Grand Saline: Oct. 8, 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. at the Grand Saline Chamber of Commerce Pavilion.

Edgewood: Oct. 22, 9-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. at the Edgewood Senior Citizens and Civic Center.

Edom: Nov. 6, 9-11 a.m. at the Edom Community Center.

Martins Mill: Nov. 6, 1:30-4 p.m. at Martins Mill High School.

Van: Nov. 9, 9 a.m.-noon at the Van Community Center.

The cost will be $10 per person or $20 per family. There is no charge for anyone who is on Medicare or Medicaid.

These clinics are open to the public for anyone in the county who wishes to get the seasonal flu shot. The H1N1 flu shot is not available at this time. However, when the shots are available, the department will let the public know. There is no charge for the H1N1 vaccine.