Flu closes Huntsville schools; Leon County schools not yet affected

Local residents were alarmed by a newcast on KBTX Monday evening reporting that Huntsville ISD is initiating a two-day school closing in an effort to stop the spread of the flu virus. HISD had 885 students absent on Monday, representing over 14 percent of the student body. The 48-hour closure includes all extra curricular and athletic activities. In the meantime, the district’s custodial staff will be hard at work disinfecting.

As of this weekend the Texas Department of State Health Services was reporting an increase in flu-like illnesses across the state.

Closer to home, however, school officials at Buffalo, Leon, Oakwood and Centerville were all contacted on Tuesday morning and none reported unusual or alarming numbers of student absences for this time of year. The Leon County Health Clinic in Centerville was also contacted and reported no increase in flu-like symptoms among their patients.

Since the frightening reports of swine flu that emerged last spring, any report of flu is, of course, very alarming. Leon ISD School Nurse Sherry Ramby was very helpful in explaining the facts about flu: “Seasonal flu does not reach our area -- this part of Texas -- until around November, and hits hardest in mid-December, so if you’ve got flu it IS the H1-N1 strain. We have had it in our schools since school started in August, but it is a very mild illness strain and very low in numbers. It has not affected our attendance significantly.”

Ramby pointed out that there are helpful precautions to be taken. “Self isolation is key in containing the spread of illness -- don’t go to school or to work if you are sick. Good health practices (getting enough sleep, eating well, frequent and thorough hand washing) is very important in the containment of any communicable illnesses.”