More schools close because of swine flu fears

News that the swine flu would shutter Elgin's Larkin High School for the better part of a week didn't turn Mike Hofmann into a germophobe.

Actually, the senior said, it was an excuse to go out.

"Once we figured out we didn't have school," Hofmann said, "we decided we should probably do something."

Hofmann said he and a dozen friends spent Sunday at the Lincoln Park Zoo and Millennium Park in Chicago, despite learning a day earlier that a 15-year-old student at Larkin had a probable case of swine flu.

"We weren't really nervous about hanging out as a group," he said. "We didn't have classes with anybody that young. We were asking each other if anybody felt sick. But nobody felt sick, or out of line."

Jeremy Lane, another senior at Larkin, said that while he's aware of the swine flu situation, he also hasn't let it curb his social schedule. After attending Larkin's prom on Friday, he said he went out on a date Saturday night and later hung out with some friends. Sunday, the Illinois State-bound student went to a scholarship recognition dinner in Bolingbrook.Larkin is one of at least a dozen schools across the suburbs to close as county health officials try to control the spread of the virus. But as Hofmann and Lane illustrate, closing a school doesn't necessarily mean that students, especially high school students, will not mingle.Amy Poore, spokeswoman for the Cook County Department of Public Health, said health officials understand that some students will socialize while their schools are closed. At this point, that doesn't appear to be a problem if the students are healthy."Our guidelines urge parents of children who are ill to keep them at home," Poore said. "If we were worried about healthy kids socializing, we'd change our guidelines to reflect that."Carol Gieske, a Larkin parent, said parents of teenagers will have a hard time keeping them home when school's out. "I don't know how you keep kids back from being with their friends," she said. "You can be as cautious as possible, but every year, 36,000 people die of the flu. We're trying to keep it in perspective." It's still up in the air whether students and staff of Algonquin Middle School in Des Plaines will be able to return to class this week.The school closed Monday under the recommendation of the Cook County Public Health Department after a "probable" case of swine flu, also called H1N1 flu, was reported last week. Officials said the school will likely remain closed until Friday, but it could reopen earlier or even later. "We just have to really evaluate every day as it comes," said Jane Westerhold, superintendent of Des Plaines Elementary District 62. "There could be some additional guidelines that are issued this week, and that could possibly change what they recommend to us."Two Palatine Township Elementary District 15 schools also are closed today as a precaution after a probable case of swine flu was identified at Carl Sandburg Junior High. The potentially infected student has a sibling who attends Central Road Elementary School.Neither the sibling nor any other family members are exhibiting symptoms, the district's Web site stated.Both District 15 schools may remain closed longer and all extracurricular activities planned at those buildings are canceled. The district will bring in an outside cleaning agency to sanitize the schools. For updates, visit the district's Web site ccsd15.net.Though the Algonquin student with "probable" infection has siblings at other district schools as well, none of them have displayed any flu-like symptoms, Westerhold said"We are evaluating that situation along with the department of health," she said.In Illinois, there are now 90 probable cases of swine flu reported and nine confirmed. Of the confirmed, five are in Chicago, two in Kane County, one in DuPage County and one in McHenry County.Cases are considered "probable" based on state tests that are 99 percent accurate. Those cases can only be confirmed by tests from the Centers for Disease Control Prevention against the swine flu virus strain.Westerhold said while the CDC is the only place that can confirm cases, state health authorities believe that later this week states may be allowed to run those tests themselves, which would speed up finding the most serious cases.Other suburban schools with probable cases that have led to closures are: Larkin High School in Elgin; Ridge Circle Elementary in Streamwood; Haines Middle School in St. Charles; Ira Jones Middle School in Plainfield; St. Edward Central Catholic High School in Elgin and Batavia High School. All are expected reopen sometime this week. Unlike many other suburban school districts dealing with possible swine flu outbreaks, those in DuPage County with probable cases are staying open.And school administrators are making the decision to stay open with the blessing of the DuPage Health Department.So far, health officials have confirmed only one case in DuPage, but they are investigating 11 other "probable" possible infections, which means there is a 99 percent likelihood they'll be confirmed by national health officials. Two of those probable cases involve students at Wood Dale Junior High School and West Chicago's Community High School. Both schools remain open and all activities have gone on as scheduled."I don't think any of them want to close until they see a probable case become a confirmed case," said David Haas, a county health department spokesman.Health department officials met with superintendents late last week to discuss how to handle an outbreak if such an event occurs. Health department officials told the superintendents to monitor attendance to determine whether schools should be closed. When Wood Dale Elementary District 7 officials announced a probable case late Thursday night, they saw attendance drop by 151 students - an absentee rate of 37 percent - the next day."We had huge absences and so we called parents back and asked if the child was sick and the grand majority were precautionary," said Superintendent John Corbett. "We had 29 out (Monday), but only three said they had flu-like symptoms, which is pretty standard for this time of year."Community High School officials in West Chicago told parents the school would remain open, but "high-touch areas of the school" were cleaned over the weekend as a precaution. They also urged anyone with flu symptoms to stay home. District officials did not respond to inquiries about Monday's attendance figures.Corbett said he was surprised by the health department's position, considering the reaction elsewhere."Initially, I was a little surprised, but it was a very logical approach to the situation instead of just reacting to the fact we may have a case of this," he said.However, he expressed some frustration of not knowing when the school would ever be notified if the student was in fact stricken with the swine flu. Haas said there's no timeline for testing to be complete.Meanwhile, Corbett said the student who had fallen ill at Wood Dale Junior High School was making a full recovery and was expected back at school soon.bull; Daily Herald staff writers Matt Arado, Lee Filas, Madhu Krishnamurthy, Kerry Lester, Robert McCoppin and Jameel Naqvi contributed to this report. <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.idph.state.il.us/swine_flu/">State's swine flu information page</a></li> <li><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&source=embed">Google Map tracking of swine flu cases</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html">WHO Swine Flu page</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/">CDC Swine Flu infomation</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>