CDC: Swine flu-infected schools can reopen

No more snow days, and no more H1N1 flu days.

Suburban schools that were closed this past week because of the H1N1 flu will reopen today, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its school closing recommendation Tuesday.

The CDC said most of the 403 confirmed cases nationwide -including 82 in Illinois - have not been as severe as originally feared, and are comparable in severity to the regular flu.

Because of that, the CDC no longer feels it's necessary to close schools where a student or faculty member is infected with H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu.

The CDC still wants school administrators and county health officials to closely monitor the situation, and asks the public to continue being vigilant about prevention measures, such as covering coughs, washing hands, and staying home if you have flu-like symptoms.

On Tuesday, Illinois rose to the second most H1N1 flu infected state in the country behind New York, which has 90 confirmed cases. Even states that border Mexico, where the flu originated, have roughly half as many confirmed cases as Illinois.

Illinois' totals spiked between Monday and Tuesday because state laboratories are now able to perform confirmatory testing, health department officials said.

As of Tuesday, the state health department had 82 confirmed cases, including 21 in suburban Cook County, 14 in DuPage County, seven in Kane County, four in Will County, one in McHenry County, and none in Lake County. There are another 40 probable cases statewide.

Those numbers differ from the number of confirmed cases being reported by county health officials, who said Tuesday that suburban Cook has 12 cases, DuPage has 14, Kane has 20, Will has 15, McHenry has 1 and Lake County has three.

In the past week, more than a dozen suburban schools in Des Plaines, Elgin, Rolling Meadows, Batavia, Streamwood, St. Charles and Aurora closed because someone had a confirmed or probable case of H1N1 flu.

At Brooks Elementary School in Aurora, a confirmed case was announced Tuesday, but the school will stay open on the recommendation of the DuPage County Health Department because the infected student has not attended classes since April 30.

The same thing happened at Mundelein High School, where a 15-year-old female student and her mother are two of the three confirmed H1N1 cases in Lake County.

The student had been out of class since April 26 and had been treated with anti-flu medication before briefly returning to school for part of the day last Thursday, District 120 Superintendent Jody Ware said. The girl was sent home that day after officials became aware she probably had the illness, Ware said.

While Mundelein High remained open, school leaders are closely monitoring the students and staff, and instructed anyone with flu symptoms to stay home for seven days. Posters informing students to take precautions against the disease now hang in every classroom. School officials also called students' homes with information about the illness.

So far, eight students have opted to stay home because of flu symptoms, but they haven't been tested for the H1N1 strain, Ware said. No staff members have been affected, she said.

Sandburg Junior High and Central Road schools in Rolling Meadows, which were both closed Tuesday, will reopen Wednesday, officials in Palatine Township Elementary District 15 said. The district used the day to "perform a complete building-wide disinfection" of the schools with help from an outside company.

Also on Tuesday, Elgin Area School District U-46 officials moved to reopen two schools days earlier than planned.

Ridge Circle Elementary School in Streamwood and Larkin High School in Elgin will both reopen Wednesday. Ridge Circle was originally slated to be closed until Monday, May 11, and Larkin until Friday, May 8.

U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres said the district will be following the Kane County Health Department's recommendation to keep students and staff out of the building if they have symptoms of the flu for seven days.

"We'll continue doing surveillance, monitoring attendance," district spokesman Tony Sanders said.

At Larkin, where several Advanced Placement exams were canceled, the school has been working with the College Board to reschedule the tests.

The swine flu not only closed schools, but caused a drop in blood donations and prompted cancellation of several blood drives.

Heartland Blood Center has had three drive cancellations in the past seven days, stirring fears of a blood shortage going into the Memorial Day holiday, said Heartland Vice President Ann McKanna.

McKanna said there are no concerns that donated blood could be tainted with the H1N1 flu. Through the normal screening process, cold, flu or allergy symptoms are cause for disqualification, she said.

"People who are healthy need to come out and give blood and not wait," McKanna said.

Staff Writers Russell Lissau and Kerry Lester contributed to this report.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=291407">CDC: Swine flu-infected schools can reopen <span class="date">[05/6/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291445">Rolling Meadows schools to reopen Wednesday after swine flu scare <span class="date">[05/6/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291448">Batavia High will reopen Wednesday <span class="date">[05/6/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291449">Two U-46 schools to reopen Wednesday <span class="date">[05/6/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=291196">More schools close because of swine flu fears <span class="date">[05/5/09]</span></a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/">Centers for Disease Control </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <br> <table width="295" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"><tr><td> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><B>Key developments on swine flu outbreaks</B></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• <b>Deaths:</b> 29 in Mexico and two in the U.S., both in Texas. One of the U.S. deaths was announced Tuesday; Texas health officials said a woman with chronic health problems who lived near the Mexico border died this week. Last week a toddler from Mexico died at a Houston hospital.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• <b>Confirmed sickened worldwide, 1,884:</b> 942 in Mexico; 652 in U.S.; 165 in Canada; 57 in Spain; 27 in Britain; nine in Germany; five in Italy and New Zealand; four in Israel and France; two each in El Salvador and South Korea; one each in Austria, Costa Rica, Colombia, Denmark, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• <b>U.S. cases confirmed by CDC or states:</b> New York, 90; <b>Illinois, 82</b>; California, 99; Washington, 58; Texas, 41; Massachusetts, 34; Delaware, 33; Arizona, 49; Oregon, 21; South Carolina, 16; Indiana, 15; Colorado, 10; Michigan, eight; Louisiana, North Carolina, Maine and New Jersey, seven; Missouri and Nebraska, six; Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin, five; Alabama, Connecticut, and Maryland, four; Hawaii, New Mexico and Virginia, three; Kansas, New Hampshire and Tennessee, two; and one each in Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Utah.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• U.S. health officials said Tuesday they are no longer recommending that schools close because of suspected swine flu cases since the virus has turned out to be milder than initially feared.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• World Health Organization says it's starting to ship 2.4 million treatments of antiflu drugs to 72 countries "most in need."</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• Mexico says epidemic has cost its economy at least $2.2 billion; announces $1.3 billion stimulus package, mostly for small businesses and tourism.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• Mexico cancels Cinco de Mayo celebrations but allows most businesses to reopen Wednesday, with universities to reopen Thursday. Mexico City cafes, museums and libraries to reopen this week; schools nationwide to reopen next week.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• U.S. Embassy in Beijing says two Americans quarantined in China have been allowed to leave, while two others are still being kept in isolation. China also lifts its quarantine early for a group of Canadian students.</p></td></tr></table>