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Anderson County Schools prepares for flu season (WATE)


Posted Date: 11/03/2022

CLINTON, Tenn. (WATE) — As flu season approaches, how illnesses are handled after the COVID-19 pandemic is something that may concern some parents. For students at Anderson County Schools, staff are prepared to keep the school as healthy as possible. Experts have been warning for months that the flu this year is expected to be exceptionally tough, since people have been less likely to come into contact with the flu virus for the last two years. In the last week, Tennessee was rated by the CDC as having high flu activity, a 3-year-old Texas girl died from the flu, and RSV season is in full swing.

Kathryn Price, Director of Nursing for Anderson County Schools, explains that Anderson County Schools has been working to prepare for flu season. In late September and early October, the school system offered flu vaccines for students, and now the school facilities are stocked with appropriate cleaning supplies. In addition to making sure that the schools are as clean as possible, Price said parents should encourage students to wash their hands regularly, especially elementary students who seem to be some of the more common students affected by the flu in the school system. “Urging them to do proper hand washing is one of the number one things we can do right now.” Price said For students who are beginning to show symptoms of the flu, such as fever, body aches, nausea, and vomiting, Price said parents should keep their students home until they have been fever free for 24 hours, although they should always follow their doctor’s orders if they have other recommendations. “If your student is running a fever, definitely keep them home,” Price said. “We don’t want to expose all their other classmates if they have the flu.”

When students do come to school and then begin showing signs of being unwell, Price said they are working to limit exposure for other students who need to come through the nurse’s office. “If a student comes in with a fever and they’re sick, we do contact the parent to get them picked up, so we can minimize that exposure time if there are other students who come in the clinic,” Price said. It is almost inevitable that some students will get the flu, but it seems that one of the positive impacts of the pandemic is refining how students are able to access their work while sick. According to Ryan Sutton, ACTV Station Director for Anderson County Schools, catching up on missed work has progressed past the days of being sent home with a packet. “Any experience digitally was exponential during the pandemic period, so teachers do use certain online tools to enhance the ability to do work from home. We have different programs depending again on the grade band that the student is in.” Sutton said. “Their assignment could be contained there, or their assignments may all be contained in Google Classroom, so it may not feel like it did 10 years ago when we’d send a paperwork packet home. It may feel a little bit more like ‘Okay, these are my assignments that I know I’m going to have for the week, and here they are online in this container program for me to complete.'” Sutton says that how students will get their schoolwork depends on their individual teachers. “Depending on what grade band that the student is in will depend on how the communication actually happens with the teacher. Some use Class Dojo, some use email, some use groups in different types of social media, but the biggest thing is to stay in contact with that teacher so that that student can stay on track.” Price also mentioned that if students feel more comfortable wearing a mask, they will still be allowed to do so at Anderson County Schools.