Information For Child Care Providers:
Preventing and Responding to H1N1
- Conduct daily health checks: Observe all children and staff and talk with each child’s parent or guardian and each child. He or she should look for changes in the child’s behavior, a report of illness or recent visit to a health care provider, and any signs or symptoms of illness. During the day, staff also should identify children and other staff who may be ill. Ill children and staff should be further screened by taking their temperature and inquiring about symptoms.
- Separate ill children and staff: Children and staff who develop symptoms of flu-like illness while at the early childhood program should promptly be separated from others until they can be sent home. While this may be challenging for some home-based providers, they should provide a space where the child can be comfortable and supervised at all times. Staff members who develop illness while at work should wear a surgical mask when near other persons when possible and if they can tolerate it. Early childhood providers who care for persons with known, probable, or suspected influenza or flu-like illness should use appropriate personal protective equipment. Visit http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/masks.htm for information on personal protective equipment and how to recommend it to employees.
- Don’t get, don’t spread the flu: stay home when sick, wash hands frequently with soap and water when possible, and cover noses and mouths with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (or a shirt sleeve or elbow if no tissue is available).
- Routine Cleaning: Areas and items that are visibly soiled should be cleaned immediately, and all areas should be regularly cleaned – with a particular focus on items that are more likely to have frequent contact with the hands, mouths, and bodily fluids of young children (for example, toys and play areas). CDC does not believe any additional disinfection of environmental surfaces beyond routine cleaning is required. Visit http://nrckids.org for more information on cleaning in early childhood settings.
- Encourage early treatment for children and staff at high risk for flu complications: Parents and staff should be encouraged to talk with their health care provider to determine if they or a member of their family are at high risk for flu complications. Staff at high risk for flu complications and parents of children under age 5 who become ill with flu-like illness should call their health care provider as soon as possible to determine if they need antiviral treatment.
- Consider selective early childhood program closures: If flu transmission is high, some communities or early childhood programs may consider temporary closures with the goal of decreasing the spread of flu among children less than 5 years of age. Maine CDC is not issuing directives to close early childhood programs at this time. The goal is to keep these programs open and functioning as usual, whenever possible. On a case-by-case basis, some early childhood programs may need to consider closing, based on:
- Absenteeism that is substantially higher than expected for the facility at this time of year
- Confirmation that the absenteeism is due to influenza-like-illness
- Indication that the already high absenteeism is rising rather than falling
- Inability to function due to high absenteeism among students and/or staff
Early childhood program administrators with questions about reporting increased absenteeism, precautions to take, or the ways in which to notify parents about cases of flu in the school, should contact Maine CDC’s Clinical Consultation line at 1-800-821-5821 or e-mail disease.reporting@maine.gov.
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