EdVANTAGE Blog

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released new guidance for schools and other local officials on handling outbreaks of the H1N1 virus, also referred to as swine flu.

The guidance is available here.

The CDC also has a communications toolkit for school leaders here.

The Council is planning a webinar for the first week of September to provide district leaders with the latest advice on dealing with flu outbreaks.  Details on logistics will be provided soon.

Newspaper reporting on the guidance has focused on a shift in the government’s advice on school closings.  For example, the Associated Press noted,

The government is urging school officials to stay calm when swine flu strikes this fall, closing buildings only in drastic cases and allowing sick students to return as soon as 24 hours after their fever is gone.

States and schools should also be planning now for the possibility of schoolwide vaccinations beginning in mid-October.

Federal officials know more now about swine flu than they did last spring, when alarm and confusion led hundreds of schools to temporarily shut down. New guidance issued Friday reflects what the officials have learned.

Closing schools is rarely warranted, even if students or teachers have swine flu, said Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.