NH urges schools, parents to take flu, COVID season seriously

Ethan DeWitt
·2 min read

The days of COVID-19 remote learning are years in the past. But with flu season beginning and winter around the corner, New Hampshire officials are urging parents to be mindful of respiratory illnesses – including coronavirus.

Last week, the New Hampshire Department of Education distributed a guidance document to schools for parents, teachers, and school officials.

“School-aged children are one of the populations most at risk for developing acute upper respiratory infections,” the document, created by the Department of Health and Human Services, begins. Those infections can spread more quickly with children, whose immune systems are not yet fully formed, it adds.

Here are some of the state’s recommendations:

  • Make sure children are practicing basic hygiene. Teach them to wash hands regularly, to not share utensils, to cough into their elbows, and to use tissues when sick.

  • Respiratory illnesses can take many forms. They include colds, COVID-19 infections, and the flu, and they are spread over the air. The symptoms can include a fever, a cough, a sore throat, muscle pains, headaches, congestion, and more.

  • Keep your child at home the day they first experience symptoms. Any symptom could be the sign of a flu or a COVID-19 infection. Stock up on COVID-19 tests ahead of time, and test them the first day they experience symptoms. Avoid public places when recovering. Try to bring your child to their primary care provider if possible.

  • The current Centers for Disease Control and Preventionguidance for those who contract COVID-19 is to quarantine for at least five days until the fever goes away.

  • Do not return to school until the COVID-19 testing is negative and the fever symptoms go away without the need for anti-fever medications. Wait at least 24 hours after symptoms go away to return.

  • To fight infections, teachers and school officials should keep desks spaced apart, should rotate teachers between classrooms and keep students in the same room, and should reduce class trips. They should disinfect surfaces regularly and provide for ventilation throughout facilities. If students show flu-like symptoms at school, they should try to isolate the child, ask them to wear a mask “if tolerated,” and contact a parent to pick up the child right away.

  • Schools should report infections to the state’s Bureau of Infectious Disease Control, which will keep track of outbreaks. They should also separate their tally of student absences between illness-related and non-illness-related absences, and report those to DHHS. “Implementing an effective absenteeism surveillance system is key to monitoring acute respiratory illness in the student population and will help in instituting prevention measures,” the guidance states.

“The flu spreads from person to person, and children in schools are among the most affected,” a state-drafted letter to parents states. “We want to keep school open during flu season and we cannot do it without you.”

This story was originally published by New Hampshire Bulletin

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH urges schools, parents to take flu, COVID season seriously