Swine flu: Schools to go back as normal

Jersey schools will open as planned on Thursday 3 September for the autumn term. *

However, as a precautionary measure, the Deputy Medical Officer of Health is advising parents to keep children off school until they have been back in Jersey for 48 hours, if they have just returned here from higher risk areas.

This is the same approach as in the weeks leading up to the summer holidays. The only change is that the virus has spread further around the world and particularly through all regions of the UK and most of Europe.

It means that children returning to Jersey from the areas listed (see notes) on Tuesday 1 September should stay off school until Friday 4 September. Those returning on Wednesday 2 September should return to school on Monday 7 September. As before, this advice will continue to apply to children returning during the school term from school trips, or independent travel.

Deputy Medical Officer of Health, Dr Susan Turnbull, said: “We know that children are more easily infected by viruses than adults, and more likely than adults to spread their infection to others. Schools are a very effective environment for spreading germs, within the school and then more widely.

“The new school term may well cause an upsurge in swine flu infections. If we can limit the spread of this new virus by sensible precautions like this, we still have a realistic chance of keeping the swine flu numbers low in Jersey as well as the need for school closures, until we are ready to start offering the new vaccine.

“Compared with much of the rest of the world, particularly the UK and France, we continue to see low swine flu activity in Jersey. This suggests Jersey has been successful so far in containing significant spread of the virus. Containment measures have been abandoned in neighbouring countries and many have been experiencing significant problems.

“We have been working in close partnership with the Education, Sport and Culture Department to find a reasonable solution with potential to limit infection spread through schools, and one that is likely to result in the least overall disruption of education, and parents’ working lives.”

Director of Education, Sport, and Culture, Mario Lundy, said: “Our prime concern is to safeguard the health of students and staff, while minimising disruption wherever possible to teaching and learning in our schools. We will be contacting schools to inform them that this guidance remains in force, and the 48 hour rule will remain in place for the autumn term unless advised otherwise. There are currently no plans to proactively close schools, but we are in close contact with medical professionals and we will react quickly if the situation changes.”

The 48-hour rule applies only to school children and not to adults, so no adult need stay off work on their return to Jersey for health reasons – unless they are unwell with flu symptoms.

Anyone who has a fever (usually with a temperature 38 degrees or more) and flu symptoms should stay at home and call their GP, or use the new flu clinics set up by GPs. It is important that people do not go to A&E or direct to their GP’s surgery as this risks spreading the virus into the hospital.

The flu helpline, which provides general information for the public, is open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm and the number to call is 445566. Anyone needing medical advice will need to contact their GP.

List of Countries (subject to review as the situation changes)

Those most affected are:

Europe:
UK mainland (including travelling through UK eg airports, not including Channel Islands)
France (including travelling through France)
Germany
Portugal
Spain and Balearic Isles (Majorca, Menorca, Ibiza)

Outside Europe:
Australia
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Malaysia
Mexico
Paraguay
Peru
Thailand
US

* Two of the fee paying schools do not go back on 3 September: St. George’s School reopens on 8 September and St. Michael’s School on 9 September.