Is Your Preschool Prepared for Swine Flu?

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By Kelly Mayberry

It has already reached pandemic proportions and childcare locations across the country are looking for ways to manage the outbreak of H1N1 virus. The Centers for Disease Control is working closely with the National Association for the Education of Young People to protect children in daycare as well as the staff members at childcare locations across the country.

The only sure-fire way to reduce the spread of the virus is to sanitize everything before for the outbreak occurs. Brilliance Preschool & Academy provides top-tier sanitary measures that insure that all toys, materials, equipment, and common areas are sanitized at the end of each school day. It should be common practice, that all measures go far and before to insure a germ-free environment. As the administrators understand, the health and safety of your child should be the number one priority.

Schools should follow the published guides by the CDC on how to protect their student body. Anyone who handles children under the age of five years of age are encouraged to get vaccinated; since this age group has the highest risk levels for the H1NI virus. See if your child's school has plans to have all their staff members receive their shots. It would also be wise to check with your pediatrician to see if your child needs to be vaccinated.

The CDC also recommends that all preschools have an emergency plan in place in case there is an outbreak of swine flu in the building. The plan should include provisions to immediately notify all parents and that communication should advise parents that it is essential to keep students home if they begin to display flu like symptoms. The CDC reports that the "symptoms of 2009 H1N1 flu virus can include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue, and sometimes diarrhea and vomiting."

When you visit your preschool you should see posters around the building encouraging the children to practice good hygiene. Materials are available from the government and the NAEYP free of charge, which reinforce the importance of hand washing and covering the nose and mouth when sneezing. Despite the best efforts of any school it still may become necessary at some point to close to control any outbreak. The CDC says if too many children or staff members become ill the best course of action will be to shutdown for 5 to 7 days.

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