Enforcing Swine Flu Protocol in Schools

[TurtleMama]

So the other day, I went to the office of my son's school to ask them a few questions about what their protocol for Swine Flu would be, should any cases break out in his school. We feel fortunate that he goes to a charter school that is MUCH smaller than the regular schools around here...parents have to either drive their kiddos to/from school or pay for the bus, so people who have their kids going here are very dedicated to their childrens' educations, and I think that helps. A lot of moms are stay-at-home so people tend to be very good about keeping sick kids at home.

 

The lady I talked to, who was sweet and kind, told me that if any children at the school were diagnosed with Swine Flu the school would notify all parents. If a certain number of kids were diagnosed, the school would close. I left, satisfied that my son's school is thoughtful and responsible.

 

Then, about twelve hours later, it hit me:

 

If doctors and ER's are no longer really testing for Swine Flu, HOW will the school know someone is sick with it to notify parents or shut down????

 

Okay, so nobody said my brain's really all that efficient. It took a long time for me to realize this flaw. But now I'm ticked -- not at his school, or any of the schools, but at the CDC's stupid assertion that it's "pointless" to test people for the Flu. DS's school has a good plan, a responsible one, but how on earth can it be enforced??

 

It's very disturbing that our government would be willing to endanger children because they don't want to either #1: be inconvenienced by this pandemic, or #2: admit that there IS a pandemic going on.