Welcome to the “new normal.”

That’s the stage Newberry schools are in now where talk of closing school isn’t odd, and many with sniffles and a cold think they have swine flu.

There is “quite a bit of the worried well,” said Newberry County School Nurse Coordinator Kim McPherson.

McPherson spoke to the school board Monday night and turned from the podium where she spoke to see a row of school nurses smile and nod in agreement about the many “worried well” students who visit their offices.

District data shows that both school nurse visits and student absences have increased because of H1N1, and though there are still many nurse visits, the traffic is slowing a bit.

However, the number of students who are absent because of “ILI” or “influenza-like illness” has grown from a single-day count of nine in May, to 33 in mid-September and then to 68 at the end of last month.

And H1N1 is “beginning to reach the adults,” McPherson said, adding that even nurses’ families have been affected.

And because it’s not quite regular flu season yet, students who test positive on the rapid flu test, for treatment purposes, are presumed to have H1N1, she said.

As far as a district flu pattern, McPherson said that “it’s really up and down” without a clear sequence.

Another part of the “new normal” is the chance of closing schools. But McPherson says the Department of Health and Environmental Control will only consider closing a school if 20 percent or more of the school’s population is out.

The VACCINE

Yesterday, DHEC says the first shipments of the novel H1N1 flu vaccine should arrive in South Carolina next week.

“We anticipate over 25,000 doses of the nasal spray vaccine are on their way to this state,” said Jerry Gibson, M.D., chief of DHEC’s Bureau of Disease Control. “The nasal spray, which will be the first of the shipments, is safe and has been extensively tested. We anticipate the injectable vaccines will begin arriving shortly after that.”

Gibson said those who should get the nasal spray form of the vaccine include people ages 2 to 49 with no underlying chronic condition like heart disease or asthma and who are not pregnant, as well as healthcare workers who have no underlying chronic condition and are not pregnant.

School board member Ike Bledsoe asked McPherson if the H1N1 shot was safe to get, since he’d heard a report saying there were risks with it being such a new shot.

McPherson said that fact that the shot was new wasn’t an issue because the regular seasonal flu shot is new every year, altered by viral trends seen elsewhere, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.

The H1N1 vaccine “goes through that same process,” she said.

McPherson recommends the H1N1 vaccine “just to make sure you have coverage,” even for someone who has had H1N1.

And unlike the regular seasonal flu shot where experts recommend supplies first go for the elderly, youth under age 5 have priority to receive vaccines from the first shipments of the H1N1 inoculation, said McPherson.

McPherson also said that children under age 9 would need two shots.

The risk for the virus—not the vaccine—is if H1N1 mutates into a worse strand or if someone catches both H1N1 and the regular flu at the same time, McPherson said.

So far though, H1N1 is milder than everyone expected, she said.

The upshot

This summer, the state discussed using schools as inoculation and “ship to” sites, and that’s still possible.

Both McPherson and District Superintendent Bennie Bennett like the idea of partnering with DHEC to give the vaccination.

The groups will consider creative and effective ways to give the shot, perhaps using high school Friday night football games as a shot site.

DHEC estimates that 20 percent of students will want to be vaccinated, which translates to roughly 1,769-2,769 Newberry students wanting the shot.

Though it may cost to receive the shot, the juice itself is paid for by the federal government.

Newberry H1N1

background

Last spring when Newberry Academy students returned from a spring break trip to Mexico feeling ill, McPherson’s first thought was their sickness had to be the affects of out-of-country travel.

“It’s got to be Montezuma’s Revenge,” McPherson recalls thinking.

But the Academy students and many others in a growing number of cases across the country indeed had swine flu, later officially termed “H1N1.”

For the state, Newberry was the “epicenter” of H1N1, says McPherson, with the district navigating through the uncharted consequences of the “novel influenza A.”

“We were setting the rules as we went,” says McPherson.

The district followed its pandemic plan and kept in close contact with Beth Bozard, Newberry DHEC County health supervisor.

School nurses were also busy, and were outstanding in helping students, says McPherson.

“(They) really let their hard work shine last spring,” she says. “We decided H1N1 really stands for ‘hardworking nurses.’”

Now, other school districts are facing H1N1 full on as Newberry did last spring and asking Newberry for advice.

“They’re calling us saying, ‘What do we do?’” says McPherson.