HEALTH ALERT: Repeat H1N1Conference Call on Tuesday and Additional H1N1 Information

HEALTH ISSUE ALERT

TO: Superintendents of Schools
FROM: Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner and Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH, Director, Maine CDC
DATE: October 30, 2009
RE: HEALTH ALERT: Repeat H1N1 Conference Call on Tuesday and Additional H1N1 Information

Repeat H1N1 Conference Call on Tuesday, November 3, at 2:30 p.m.

We have scheduled a repeat H1N1 conference call for next Tuesday, November 3, at 2:30 p.m. Like the call we conducted on Thursday, the purpose is to discuss the current U.S. CDC guidance on school closures due to H1N1 and seasonal flu, to talk about school vaccination clinics and the availability of vaccine, and to answer your questions. The call is designed for superintendents and school nurses. Dr. Dora Anne Mills of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) will be on the call along with Commissioner Gendron, and Nancy Dube, the Maine DOE’s school nurse consultant. The content of the call is expected to be the same as on Thursday, except of course any variation in the questions that are asked.

Call-in Information:
Dial: toll-free: 1-800-244-5901
Or, dial toll number: 1-719-234-0207
Passcode: 425582

Because the last conference call was only able to handle up to 125 participants, some superintendents and school nurses who called in were not able to participate. Also, some of you may not have been available during that time period. We have managed to secure a conference line that will allow up to 300 participants for up to one hour. Hopefully that will accommodate everyone. We will also record the call and post a podcast (mp3 file) on our website as soon as possible after the call. The mp3 will be posted on our H1N1 web page, by the end of Tuesday: http://www.maine.gov/education/h1n1 .

In addition, if you miss the conference call, or have follow-up questions, please continue to make use of the resources available to you on the Maine DOE H1N1 web pages, the Maine CDC H1N1 web pages, and by calling the Maine CDC or Nancy Dube, our school nurse consultant. Contact information and web addresses are given below under “For More Information.”

A reminder: because of the large number of participants expected, we will mute all lines until the Q&A portion. You can un-mute your line by dialing *6. Please wait until we start the Q&A to do so. Also, after you’ve asked your question and it’s been answered, please dial *6 again to mute your line.

Form to Apply for Maine CDC Funds

Wednesday’s Health Issue Alert included information about funds available to schools for hosting H1N1 vaccination clinics and a link to the School Agreement Form. For some of you, the link in the email was broken into two parts. We have created a shortcut that will bring you to the form:
www.tinyurl.com/maineh1n1

In addition, you can eliminate formatting issues and broken links by viewing informational letters online:
http://www.maine.gov/education/edletrs/ilethome.shtml

Plans for the Continuity of Learning During Closures

Some of you had questions about our request that you develop plans for the continuation of learning during closures. In August, the U.S. Department of Education posted a Communications Toolkit that includes Recommendations to Ensure the Continuity of Learning for Schools (K-12) During Extended Student Absence or School Dismissal, which we linked from the Maine Department of Education H1N1 website. This contains guidance and some ideas for ways students can continue learning during a closure. You can find this on our H1N1 web page:
http://www.maine.gov/education/h1n1

or directly at:
http://pandemicflu.gov/professional/school .

The intent, as with summer reading lists and other summer assignments, is to encourage continued learning when school is out. These should be assignments not directly tied to the classroom material at any given time, since that material will change weekly. Assignments could include reading a book and providing responses to questions, doing a book report, projects, or other assignments. On re-review, we see that many of the USDE suggestions are web-based so we will develop some additional suggestions that do not rely on web access and provide those next week.

The flu is expected to be around all year and thus absenteeism might be a real problem. We want to do everything we can to ensure the continuity of learning.

Waivers due to H1N1 Closure

As with any extended and/or numerous school closures, we will be looking for information about the reasons for the closure, and what strategies were considered in making up the lost days. Please note from the Health Issue Alert on Wednesday, and from Thursday’s conference call, that Dr. Dora Ann Mills, the director of the Maine CDC, has told us that there is no longer a public health reason to close schools. Rather, whether or not to close schools is an operational decision. If schools cannot operate effectively due to high absenteeism among teachers, staff, or students, they should close. If they can, they should remain open. For reasons explained by Dr. Mills in the call, closing schools is no longer considered an effective way to slow the spread of H1N1.

There may be some schools that will find it necessary to close due to high absenteeism. I will not be issuing a blanket waiver – we have not done that in the past, even in years of severe snowstorms. As is always the case, we will consider requests on a case-by-case basis and be flexible to meet schools’ needs.

For More Information

If you have questions regarding any of the items in this Health Alert, please contact the Maine CDC at 888-257-0990 or flu.questions@maine.gov or Nancy Dube, the Department’s school nurse consultant, at 207-624-6688 or nancy.dube@Maine.gov .

Also, visit the Maine DOE H1N1 web pages:
http://www.maine.gov/education/h1n1

and the Maine CDC H1N1 pages:
http://www.maineflu.gov (click on schools)

NOTE: This Health Issue Alert is being archived as Informational Letter #42 and can be found on the Informational Letters web page:
http://www.maine.gov/education/edletrs/ilethome.shtml