Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The virus epidemic
It came suddenly on the Monday in December. We had a big snow the weekend before and everyone was out shoveling, I guess. The reports came from the attendance secretary and a guidance counselor that there were quite a few out sick. In fact, there were 180 out at first, then 12 more left sick. It seemed to be a virus so I hoped the next day would be better. It wasn't. The nurse saw 58 students and sent 20 home. There were already 150 out. The third day became critical because teachers could not do much with a third of their classes out sick. If it continued then we were in for a problem.
The third day there were 174 out sick with another 17 leaving after puking and coughing all over everyone and everything. I didn't even want to go in the nurse's office. She saw 71 students that day. We began to sanitize everything that kids touched. It seemed to hit teens, not adults or small children because the faculty and the elementary schools were OK. I arranged for the cafeteria ladies to have a disinfectant to clean down the tables after each lunch period. I told the custodians to sanitize all the water fountains, desks, and public phones and doorknobs. They got out the bleach and water and began to work.
My prediction was that the kids still sick were coming to school infecting the healthy kids. Parents had to leave work to pick up their sick child anyway, why couldn't they keep them home, I wondered. That's modern "parenthood", which is no parenting at all. Well, if it doesn't get better tomorrow we will be sending a health alert home to the parents to keep their sick child home. Unfortunately, the kids run the house anyway, so nothing will change.
The third day there were 174 out sick with another 17 leaving after puking and coughing all over everyone and everything. I didn't even want to go in the nurse's office. She saw 71 students that day. We began to sanitize everything that kids touched. It seemed to hit teens, not adults or small children because the faculty and the elementary schools were OK. I arranged for the cafeteria ladies to have a disinfectant to clean down the tables after each lunch period. I told the custodians to sanitize all the water fountains, desks, and public phones and doorknobs. They got out the bleach and water and began to work.
My prediction was that the kids still sick were coming to school infecting the healthy kids. Parents had to leave work to pick up their sick child anyway, why couldn't they keep them home, I wondered. That's modern "parenthood", which is no parenting at all. Well, if it doesn't get better tomorrow we will be sending a health alert home to the parents to keep their sick child home. Unfortunately, the kids run the house anyway, so nothing will change.
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