Swine flu test results from three of at least 10 sick Rucker
Elementary School students came back negative late Thursday night,
and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department approved the
school’s reopening Monday.
Swine flu test results from three of at least 10 sick Rucker Elementary School students came back negative late Thursday night, and the Santa Clara County Public Health Department approved the school’s reopening Monday.
The three tested students included one 10-year-old girl in the fourth grade who fell severely ill Monday and left the rural school north of Gilroy, said Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Debbie Flores. A couple others followed immediately, and those three exhibited severe flu symptoms – including vomiting and diarrhea – but they tested negative for swine flu and are now recovering. After reviewing the results and consulting with the district, county doctors decided this morning to investigate the students’ illnesses, but they agreed to reopen the school because there was no evidence of swine flu. Shutting down a school requires the presence of at least one probable case.
Federal health officials believe the flu, which regularly affects pigs but rarely humans, originated in Mexico, and they are concerned because it is a new virus for which people have little or no immunity and no vaccine. The flu has been confirmed in 13 countries in at least 367 cases of swine flu, including more than 140 people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Friday was also opening day at the Arturo Ochoa Migrant Farmworker Center off Arizona Circle in southeast Gilroy, and by mid-afternoon, county health officials there had screened about 95 of 100 incoming families coming from Arizona, Texas, California and, in lesser numbers, Mexico, according to Chris Finn, Sthe county’s assistant nurse manager, and Alex Sanchez, executive director of the Housing Authority of Santa Clara County – which oversees the state-run quarters.
Bottles of hand sanitizer sat on tables and masks and gloves were also available for arriving families, but as of 3 p.m. Friday, nobody had been referred for follow-up testing, Finn said. The mobile, RV-like county health clinic she and three others worked out of arrived this morning, but it spent the afternoon idling outside a crowded waiting room where the screening took place.
“It’s just the flu,” incoming resident Art Urrutia said as his grandson ran around the nearly full parking lot while families unpacked their cars. “I’m not worried. I’ve heard some things here and there, down by Mexicali, but nothing here.”
Urrutia and his wife, daughter and two grandchildren said they felt fine after their trip from Arizona, where they said he spends about seven months of the year before driving here to find him work as a mechanic. Of the 260 or so people expected to arrive, about 100 will be children who will enter district schools until summer vacation. The camp shuts down Nov. 20, and Gardner Family Health Network also has a mobile clinic that regularly visits the seasonal quarters.
Kaiser Permanente has been following direction from the CDC by screening people who believe they have swine flu over the phone before telling them to come in to clinics, nearly all of which have set up ad hoc rooms and tents for patients suspected to have swine flu.
“Otherwise, if you’re not feeling well, just stay home,” Kaiser Spokesperson Karl Sonkin said.
Not one probable case has surfaced in Gilroy or its schools, and Superintendent Flores let out a cautious “phew” when she about the negative results this morning.
“It’s a major relief the first few were negative because one of the children had all the symptoms, and the other two were very ill,” Flores said Friday, adding that fall and winter flu outbreaks commonly remove 10 children from the school of about 640 students. “This looks like a different influenza, and we were being very cautious Thursday when we decided to close the school.”
The district has forwarded the names of the seven additional students showing flu symptoms to the county, Flores said. Some of the students have been hospitalized and have been lying in bed at home. The kids’ guardians have taken all seven to see doctors, but it is up to them and county officials to work out medical solutions, Flores said.
“We’re asking the children to see doctors, and so far they have complied, but at that point it’s a medical call,” Flores said. “Hopefully now, with three days off, we’ll have fewer children sick on Monday, and we’ll be reducing the risk at school” on Monday with common sense hygiene practices.
The county analyzes swabs and cultures of “possible cases” taken at local health clinics. If the results come back positive for type A flu virus, the case is labeled “probable” and forwarded the samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., for confirmation.
In addition to the classroom disruption, the school district decided Thursday – after waiting 36 hours too long for the test results because of an unrelated swab error – to cancel this year’s Run for Fitness, an annual exercise event of about 2,000 students to raise fitness awareness. The event at Luigi Aprea Elementary School will be rescheduled soon. No other events have been postponed, Flores said.
The county health department’s precautionary closure of Rucker was the first such school closure in Gilroy and the sixth in the county. The decision came as officials were waiting for test results from Saint Louise Regional Hospital. The initial swab analysis taken there from the 10-year-old girl in the fourth grade was inconclusive and had to be retaken, and county officials thus labeled the suspected sample a “high priority” Thursday, said Molly Carbajal, a health department spokesperson. Saint Louise representatives refused to comment.
The sick Rucker students were mostly fourth graders but included at least one first grader, according to Rucker Principal Barbara Keesaw, who said “a couple” of students’ families visited Mexico during spring break two weeks ago. The closure did not affect state standardized testing, which will resume when the school reopens Monday, Flores said.
When Rucker closed at its normal time Thursday – an hour or so after the county decided to close the school – Melissa Valdez, who takes care of a first grader after school, said she thought the health department should shut down the whole school district, which serves about 10,000 students. She also questioned the prudence of closing just one school, whose students are bused in from different areas in and around Gilroy – unlike other neighborhood schools.
“These are not just the country kids. These are kids from all around Gilroy,” Valdez said as she held a bright pink letter that Flores wrote to guardians about the closing.
Lisa Muzzio appreciated the prompt notifications and advice from the school district – which reportedly bought up all the hand sanitizer at Costco Thursday afternoon – but she said she would stay calm, continue to practice common sense hygiene and encourage her sons in fifth and second grade to do the same.
“I’m not going to panic. There’s no sense to that,” Muzzio said.
Councilman Perry Woodward was down in Mexico with his wife and two young children in Cabo San Lucas this week, which sits at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. The professional pilot with a private plane housed in San Martin took a commercial flight to Mexico Monday before the CDC issued travel precautions, and he said Wednesday people “were still partying,” but in thinner crowds than usual.
Down in Mexico City, Gilroy High School teacher Gretchen Yoder-Schrock is on a Fulbright exchange, but her life and those of her two kids “have been radically altered” after schools across the country closed April 24. She washes her hands about 30 times a day, but there’s not a lot to do – concerts and other public events in Mexico City are canceled, restaurants only sell food to go, and movie theaters, gyms, and pools are closed.
“Its been nearly a week that we’ve been cooped up but we are staying entertained,” Yoder-Schrock wrote in an e-mail. “Thank goodness for the Internet!”
Staff writer Sara Suddes contributed to this story.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
-“Give us time to get the results. We don’t want people panicking.” – GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores
-“In hindsight, I should’ve taken my plane.” – Councilman Perry Woodward, a pilot speaking from Mexico about his impending commercial plane trip home
-“Right now we’re treating this as a suspected case.” – County health department spokesperson Molly Carbajal talking about one of seven Rucker students who have flu-like symptoms
-“I’m not going to panic. There’s no sense to that.” – Lisa Muzzio, mother of two Rucker students
Masks: What to look for
-According to a Consumer Reports blog (blogs.consumerreports.org/health), wearing a mask “makes sense” for people who are likely to be exposed to the virus, such as someone caring for a sick person.
-Consumer Reports advises looking for a mask labeled N-95 or higher, which means it has been cleared by the FDA. If you choose to wear a mask, it should fit tightly over your nose and mouth with no gaps. For the most effectiveness, masks need to be worn as long as you’re in a high risk situation and replaced after each use.
-Masks are no replacement for other preventative measures, such as frequent and vigorous hand washing.
Prevention tips
-Wash hands frequently
-Cover your mouth when you cough
-Avoid close contact with sick people
-Stay home from school or work if you are sick
-Eat healthy
-Get adequate sleep each night
-Drink plenty of fluids
-Exercise
BY THE NUMBERS
– 6 ‘probable’ swine flu cases in the county, none confirmed
– 99 samples tested in county, including Gilroy’s “suspected” case
-13 confirmed cases in California
-141 confirmed cases in 19 states
-1 death in Texas
-13 countries affected
– 367 confirmed cases worldwide
-168 deaths linked to swine flu in Mexico
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, Santa Clara County Public Health Department
