KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar BluffMarshall County schools face H1N1 just days after starting classes

Marshall County schools face H1N1 just days after starting classes

By Julia Bruck - bio | email

MARSHALL COUNTY, KY (KFVS) - It did not take long for one Heartland school district to come face to face with H1N1 also known as the Swine Flu.  Just days into a new school year, the Marshall County School District has two confirmed cases of the flu.

The school district received word from the Marshall County Health department Friday afternoon.  While the Marshall County Superintendent says he expected to see the illness at some point this school year.  He says they did not expect to see students getting sick already.

"I received a phone call Thursday night about 10:30 from one of our administrators and they had been informed from a parent that there was a possible case of the swine flu," said Superintendent Trent Lovett. 

He says they wasted no time taking action Friday morning.  They spoke with the county health department and the Kentucky Department of Education to coordinate an action plan.  Lovett says at that point they still had no confirmation cases of students with H1N1, but started to take precautionary measures.  That included putting together a parent letter.

"A general letter that stated what we're doing, some things to look for as a parent in case there were any symptoms," Lovett said.

Online some parents asked why they were never notified of the two cases.  However, Lovett says they could not wait for confirmation in order to get the letters out before students left school.

"We didn't have confirmation so I couldn't put that in the letter and I couldn't wait until 1:30 to print 5,000 letters," Lovett said.

Lovett says word finally came around 1:30 Friday afternoon from the health department that indeed two students were sick with H1N1.  He says one student attends Sharp Elementary.  The other attends North Marshal Middle School.

Lovett says staff started cleaning, wiping down desks and door handles.  Disinfectant was also used on the buses over the weekend.  Lovett says the two children are related and for now, it appears this is an isolated incident.

"All signs are leading toward leaving the schools open, obviously if we see many, many cases that's a different issue then," Lovett said.

Lovett say the children have been out of school for more than a week but are doing well. 

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