Hong Kong School Suspension H1N1: September 09

rani

rani

Administrator
It's happening again. The Gov't has told schools that if 10% of their school population is on sick leave they must suspend school for 7-days.

So far, HKIS has suspended their Middle School (last week) and their Lower and Primary Schools (this week)

Have also heard that Renaissance College has suspended classes.

If you hear of any other school closures please post them here.

From EDB
In line with the current strategy in the mitigation phase, CHP will base on a number of conditions, such as the numbers of students affected, severely ill and hospitalized, the progression of the outbreak, the effectiveness of control measures and so on in advising on class suspension. In general situation, reference will also
be taken from (but not solely dictated by) the following indicators:
the rate of sick leave reaching 10% or above;
the rate of hospitalization being above 1%;
admission of two or more students to Intensive Care Unit; or
death of an otherwise healthy student in the school due to influenza.

Taken from:
http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_243/letter_to_sch_20090720_eng.pdf
 
Last edited:
Thanka2, what happened to your post?
We have 1 case at Kennedy, and I hear Japanese Int'l also has 1.
 
rani:
I posted a school that I know of that is doing a voluntary suspension of their primary classes--I don't think their numbers of infected children has been reached the numbers set by the government. However, on second thought, I felt that it was best not to post that information because I work for this school and I'm not sure how public they want the information to be--especially since they are self-imposing suspension of classes and I am not sure what the exact case number is. I figure that if students attend that school, they and their families will be notified in due time and it isn't expedient for everyone else to know. I didn't see a delete post option and the editing option required that I have at least 10 characters in my post so, I just typed "-Post Deleted by User-"
 
The illness does not have to be swine flu. If absences due to illness result in 10% of the population - no matter what the illness - school will be suspended, as was the case at HKIS.
 
Elise said:
The illness does not have to be swine flu. If absences due to illness result in 10% of the population - no matter what the illness - school will be suspended, as was the case at HKIS.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that too. What if my child has asthma, broke her leg, etc. and wouldn't be able to come to school ... would she be counted as 1 sick child even though it's completely non-contagious and completely irrelevant?!
 
Thanka2, No worries.

Elise, 10% is approx 3 kids per class, which I'm afraid can happen anytime.

Was speaking to an HKIS mum today, and most of the kids out of school have enrolled in Kumon and other classes.
 
rani said:
Thanka2, No worries.

Elise, 10% is approx 3 kids per class, which I'm afraid can happen anytime.
Click to expand...

statistically yes, but it's very rare to have 3 kids in EVERY class (as 10% of overall school pop. would suggest..) be absent due to illness
 
Our daughter's school has sent a letter giving a list of symptoms which if your child has you should keep them off school while they last and for two days after. This should push the absenteeism rate up enough to close the school!
 
IMS in Ap Lei Chau has a few cases including 4 teachers and kids. As described by a teacher the scene is bit chaotic. She said that some parents are not getting their kids tested for the swine flu and keeping the kids at home. Any parents with kids in IMS will be able to give us a better picture.
 
I have a kid at IMS, and the last e-mail from the school said two kids and 1 teacher (my daughter's teacher) have confirmed cases of the flu (with a number of kids absent). My daughter has been out for 3 days with flu-like symptoms (fever, cough and some vomiting), and I had her tested and it came back negative. Other parents I know there who have kids out have also had them tested, all negative. So I think there is a lot of illness circulating around right now, including flu. Not surprising given that everyone is now back at school. Sadly I suspect there will be a lot of illness throughout the year.
 
Information taken from Centre for Health Protection Site:

Fatal case of human swine influenza recorded:

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health received notification from Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital (HKSH) last evening (September 27) about the death of a 55-year-old man suspected to have been infected with human swine influenza (HSI).

The patient presented to HKSH yesterday morning with a history of fever and respiratory symptoms since September 19. On admission, he was found to have severe pneumonia. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he passed away in the afternoon of the same day.

Laboratory tests on his respiratory specimens were positive for HSI today (September 28).

Investigations revealed that the man was a staff member of a school in Aberdeen. He was on sick leave in the past week.

Earlier this month, the school concerned had reported an influenza outbreak. Staff of CHP had visited the school on September 1 and health advice was given. A total of 16 students had developed influenza-like-illness between August 28 and September 11. Six of them were confirmed to have HSI. All of the affected students have recovered.

The school was put under medical surveillance and no new cases have been detected after September 11.

Staff of the CHP visited the school again this afternoon and noted that the number of students on sick leave was at baseline level and that there was no new influenza-like illness outbreak. General health advice was given to the school.

The case has been referred to the Coroner for investigation.

CHP will report the case to the World Health Organisation.

Ends/Monday, September 28, 2009
 
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