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It would REALLY help if the schools would post #'s of sick kids
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Anonymous
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I am tired of hearing absolutely nothing from my county about vaccine updates (Loudoun). Our plan was to give the shots at school starting with elementary kids. Ooops, we ran out in a few days and the rest of the elems are being told NOTHING about updates on supply or plan B. Not to mention our preschoolers and middle/high schoolers who are really out in the cold. Yes, I could sneak over to Fairfax or DC to get clinic shots but really, why isn't my county doing a better job? At least update the damn county health site with something beyond Oct 14th!!
Sorry to vent, but the other thing that needs to be tracked and SHARED is the % of kids absent from schools. My kids are home with me, and I'm not hearing anything from their schools about how prevalent this is in their school. I'm of the school of thought that knowledge is power, so I'd like to be able to see across school, district, and county how many kids or percentages are out sick in real time. My son is still going to his high school and his opinion is that about 15-25% of his classmates are absent (depending on which class). That sounds REALLY high. |
Anonymous
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Can you call your child's school and ask? Are your kids sick now? I'm asking since you say "my kids are home with me" -- or have you pulled them out of school until flu season is over?
Don't "sneak" to other jurisdictions. Once the clinics are vaccinating other than high pri groups, just walk in with your kids and get the vaccines. Where is the power in the knowledge of how many kids are sick? Is there a % at which you would just pull your healthy child from school? How would you act differently if you knew it wa a 15% versus a 25% absentee rate? Sorry, I don't mean to be mean, I'm just not sure what you're looking to have happen and why. |
Anonymous
I disagree. The jurisdictions are openly welcoming people from neighboring counties. OP, you are right and deserve to get more information. But in the meanwhile, take control of your own situation and get them vaccinated. |
Anonymous
| 12:59 here. Sorry, that was my point. When I said don't "sneak in" I meant that you don't need to. All the counties in the National Capital Region are doing vaccinations regardless of where you live - there is cross-jurisdictional reciprocity. Found this out after conversations with officials in both Arlington and Fairfax Health Departments. |
Anonymous
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OP, I live in Loudoun and while my DD is not yet school-aged I'm equally annoyed at their backwards-ness. If states/counties are allotted vaccines based upon population, then Loudoun should have almost as many as Fairfax, since its the 2nd most populous county in the state.
I actually live only 10 minutes from Reston, but our family doc has assured us they'll have the shots next week, so we're going to make appointments and go get shots like civilized people, rather than waiting in a 3 hour line to be vaccinated like cattle (I'm criticizing the whole system, not the poor people who stood in line.) |
Anonymous
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It's pointless to post the number of kids w/ swine flu for a couple of reasons --
1) even if it's only 1 child, that 1 child could have infected anyone (and everyone in school). Beyond 1, there's no point in knowing how many 2) most docs are not testing for h1n1, many kids with not severe cases of flu-like symptoms don't even go to the doc. Without a flu-typing test, there's no way of knowing if it's h1n1 or not, so it's not feasible to post numbers of infected at schools. That said, i understand your frustration about lack of information on vaccine. FWIW, MoCo told all its parents that they would do h1n1 vaccination in school and then .... didn't.... no parent notice, no nothing, just media info about clinic sites. I only found out because I stopped to ask the nurse what the h1n1 vaccination date was and she told me they wouldn't be doing it. When I said, you need to tell parents so they can make other arrangements for vaccines, she just shrugged her shoulders. I suspect MoCo changed it's mind about this because they didn't have enough vaccine for all schools and decided to use the clinic approach instead of vaccinated thru schools, probably for fear of sparking a panic or parent outrage. More transparency would be better. |
Anonymous
I thought MoCo ran out at the clinics b/c they were holding the vaccines for the school-aged children. So they are not vaccinating at schools and all the K-12 kids/families need to fend for themselves? I wish they would make an announcement. |
Anonymous
| I really don't understand why it matters to you how many kids are out sick. Just because they are out does not mean they have the flu so what difference does it make. |
Anonymous
Yes, this. I don't get why it would be "really" helpful? Would it feel like your paranoid self is justified? |
Anonymous
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OP here. My younger kids have it now, my oldest is hanging tough so far. I am interested in knowing what % is absent from school because I read in the paper yesterday that many schools are CLOSING due to high absentee rates (>25%). This is consistent with what my son is saying he's seeing in his classes in HS, as well as teachers being out sick.
IMO, if schools (districts) are running absentee %'s of >25%, they OUGHT to close for a variety of reasons; cost, take the pressure off kids who are feeling sick but come anyway b/c they don't feel they can afford to be out for GPA reasons, etc. I've heard his school is cx'ing tests and projects due, kids are not being taught new material b/c too many kids are out. If that's the case, why be open at all? Other than the schools get tax dollars for every kid who's there each day... I'd like to see the numbers b/c if they're ridiculously high, the school district ought to be accountable to the parents for their decision to keep the school open. As it is now, no one's talking to anyone about how high the absentee %'s are... |
Anonymous
| OP again... just wanted to add that I realize H1N1 figures are impossible to get for a variety of reasons. However, you could look at a Y-O-Y comparison of absentee rates and get a good feel for what's above normal for this time of year. And assume the difference is H1N1. |
Anonymous
MOCO here. Some classes 50% out |
Anonymous
Where is your child? My son is at Quince Orchard and we not only received an email with QO absentee stats, we also received an email with MoCo figures. If you go to the county school website there are stats listed as well. I really don't see what difference it makes to you though, keep your kids home if they are sick. If not, send them to school. They can get sick anywhere, not just at school. |
Anonymous
| I've been digging on MoCo's site for a link of percents of students out sick. Can you pls post where you're finding that info? tx. |