NEW ORLEANS, La. - A New Orleans day care center has closed for a week and a Catholic School in St. Charles Parish is doing some extra cleaning after each had confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, which is commonly called the swine flu.
Two children at the Tulane-operated Kidopolis day care center in downtown New Orleans and two children at the St. Charles Borromeo school in St. Charles Parish have been reported to have tested positive for the virus.
The playground at the Kidopolis day care center was quiet Friday after the center closed its doors for the entire week.
TheUniversity Communications Department would only issue a statement via e-mail.
"Two children who attend the Kidopolis child care center operated by Tulane University are confirmed to have H1N1 flu," wrote Deborah L. Grant, Vice President of University Communications at Tulane. "Several more students, teachers and administrators exhibited flu-like symptoms and were sent home to await test results."
The University says that one of the reasons the center will be closed for the entire week is because with the number of sick teachers and administrators there is no longer the mandated teacher-child ratio to keep it open.
Doctors are not surprised that they are seeing swine flu now that school is back open.
"The issue really is going to be because they are in close proximity to one another and there is no immunity in the community currently because the vaccination is not available yet. This is going to be transmitted easily amongst children, amongst young adults, amongst older adults," said Dr. Fred Lopez, an infectious disease specialist at LSU Health Sciences Center.
In St. Charles Parish,H1N1 or swine flu cases, have also shown up at St. Charles Borromeo. Siblings,one in Pre-K and one in first grade are home with the swine flu, but the school remains open.
"There's no major scrubbing of walls or things like that, but things like door knobs, things like the bathrooms, are being cleaned more than once a day, things that teachers are using, staff are using, keyboards, all of that stuff is being wiped down according to CDC regulations," saidSarah Comiskey, the Director ofCommunications for theArchdiocese of New Orleans.
The Archdiocese says these are the onlytwo cases in any of its schools and parents were notified last Friday.
"All we're doing is really trying to make sure the teachers are aware of noticing any symptoms, parents are aware of noticing any symptoms," Comiskeyexplained.
Doctors can not stress enough how important it is to wash your hands regularly, and cough or sneeze into your sleeve, not your hands. And they say the swine flu is the virus that is going around now.
"Schools have done absolutely nothing wrong. The difference this year is that this flu virus, is healthier in the warmer months than it is in the usual colder months when we see the usual seasonal flu," Dr. Lopez said.
The Centers for Disease Control states that all children should stay home until they have been without fever for 24 hours.
But doctors say children with conditions such as asthma and childrenfive and younger, are more likely to have severe complications from the flu. So day care centers should think about closing.
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