New Jersey is one of 24 states now reporting high flu activity, and the New Jersey Department of Health is saying that, within New Jersey, Essex County is one of the hot spots. But right now, the flu is going easy on Verona.
Elizabeth Skinner, director of special services for Verona public schools, says that there are no reported cases of flu at the elementary level and no students with extended absences. The attendance rate this past week across the district is well within average, she adds. School nurses are reporting the typical mid-winter mix of strep, fevers and stomach bugs.
At H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, the attendance rate started down at 92.3% on Monday, but has increased since, giving a 94.6% rate for the week. Five parents did report flu-like symptoms when they called in their child’s absence yesterday, but some of those students returned to school today and Skinner says that there have been no confirmed cases of flu reported at HBW.
The attendance rate at Verona High School is 96% for the week, which is below the school’s average 97% to 98% rate and Skinner says that some parents have reported flu or flu-like symptoms when they called in absences.
But there is no doubt that the flu is out there. Public health officials across the country are concerned by the early start to the flu season and the strain of virus that has popped up this year. H3N2, this year’s bug, has been known to cause more deaths than the H1N1 strain. (The last time we had H3N2 was in the winter of 2003 to 2004. ) Making matters potentially worse this year is a new type of norovirus, the stomach bug.
There are no vaccines against norovirus, but there are against the flu, and shots for adults are widely available at the chain drug stores around our area. Adults can also get the flu vaccine at the Montclair Health Department on the first and third Monday of the month between 9 a.m. and noon.
For young children, you’re going to have to see your pediatrician, and if he or she is out of flu vaccine, you can call Connie Pifher in the Verona Health Department, (973) 857-4800, for other pediatricians to call. As of yesterday afternoon, Pifher said Town Medical had the flu vaccine available for children aged 4 and above, as did the Mountainside Family Practice, 973-746-7050. Pifher stays in close contact with the health departments in Montclair, West Orange and other towns, and gets reports on vaccine availability there.
What to do if your household does get hit with the flu? Talk to your doctor or try Flu.Gov, the federal government’s flu information Web site.
