Hong Kong School Suspension H1N1: September 09

[rani]

It's happening again. The Gov't has told schools that if 10% of their school population is on sick leave they must suspend school for 7-days.

So far, HKIS has suspended their Middle School (last week) and their Lower and Primary Schools (this week)

Have also heard that Renaissance College has suspended classes.

If you hear of any other school closures please post them here.

From EDB
In line with the current strategy in the mitigation phase, CHP will base on a number of conditions, such as the numbers of students affected, severely ill and hospitalized, the progression of the outbreak, the effectiveness of control measures and so on in advising on class suspension. In general situation, reference will also
be taken from (but not solely dictated by) the following indicators:
the rate of sick leave reaching 10% or above;
the rate of hospitalization being above 1%;
admission of two or more students to Intensive Care Unit; or
death of an otherwise healthy student in the school due to influenza.

Taken from:
http://www.edb.gov.hk/FileManager/EN/Content_243/letter_to_sch_20090720_eng.pdf

 

[thanka2]

-post deleted by user-

 

[rani]

Thanka2, what happened to your post?
We have 1 case at Kennedy, and I hear Japanese Int'l also has 1.

 

[Neha]

5 schools closed including shatin junior. ESF in Homantin has 3 cases also

 

[MommyTo3]

QBS has 2 (heard 3) cases as well.

 

[thanka2]

rani:
I posted a school that I know of that is doing a voluntary suspension of their primary classes--I don't think their numbers of infected children has been reached the numbers set by the government. However, on second thought, I felt that it was best not to post that information because I work for this school and I'm not sure how public they want the information to be--especially since they are self-imposing suspension of classes and I am not sure what the exact case number is. I figure that if students attend that school, they and their families will be notified in due time and it isn't expedient for everyone else to know. I didn't see a delete post option and the editing option required that I have at least 10 characters in my post so, I just typed "-Post Deleted by User-"

 

[Elise]

The illness does not have to be swine flu. If absences due to illness result in 10% of the population - no matter what the illness - school will be suspended, as was the case at HKIS.

 

[MommyTo3]

The illness does not have to be swine flu. If absences due to illness result in 10% of the population - no matter what the illness - school will be suspended, as was the case at HKIS.

I was thinking about that too. What if my child has asthma, broke her leg, etc. and wouldn't be able to come to school ... would she be counted as 1 sick child even though it's completely non-contagious and completely irrelevant?!

 

[rani]

Thanka2, No worries.

Elise, 10% is approx 3 kids per class, which I'm afraid can happen anytime.

Was speaking to an HKIS mum today, and most of the kids out of school have enrolled in Kumon and other classes.

 

[jayinhongkong]

I know of a local school with two kids with H1N1 (and possibly two more who stayed home with high fevers today).