He adds children are particularly susceptible to the H1N1 vorus.
“It poses a particular threat to children, which is sort of unusual for the flu, which often hits older people the hardest,” said Morris. “So, schools are being, in my view, super cautions about their readiness for flu and their policies in dealing with kids and staff who aren’t feeling well.”
The spread of the flu is leading to school districts shutting down schools. And the days off will have to be made up.
“We hope, of course, that these closures are few and far between,” said Morris. “If it stays this way then school districts will simply make up the lost days – if they don’t already have make up days built into their calendar – they can make two or three days, missed because of flu, without much difficulty.”
Education and health officials are closely monitoring trends to determine whether the flu outbreaks become more severe in the weeks ahead. Morris says officials will have to decide on a course of action in the event of a widespread outbreak.