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Flu worries close Liberty Elementary School

By Chris Turner, WDRB-TV Fox 41 News

Fears of the H1N1 or swine flu close one Oldham County elementary school until Tuesday.  The closing comes after almost 40 percent of the students at Liberty Elementary School stayed home, or were sent home sick Thursday.

Liberty sits along U.S. 42, near Skylight and Goshen.  The flu-like symptoms spread quickly among the students this week.

Student Max Esposito's in the 2nd grade.  He's paid attention to all the flu warnings from his teachers at Liberty.  "They keep telling me that I need to wash my hands if I sneeze a lot or... maybe I've been wiping my nose a little. Or before lunch or after lunch or other kinds of things so I don't get the swine flu," Max said.

Max feels fine, but many of his fellow 425 students have flu-like symptoms.  So his school will close Friday and Monday, and reopen Tuesday.

"I think it's great that they're being proactive, trying to prevent the spread of infection. And if it means they have a couple days off, I'd rather have that than if they'd come home and be sick for a week," parent Paula Esposito said. She is Max's mother.

Liberty bus drivers have noticed more empty seats than usual the last few days. Numbers at school show 65 students sick or sent home Wednesday, and 160 of them Thursday.  "We do believe several of these are H1N1. We've had several parents call and confirm that their doctors have diagnosed it as H1N1," said Anne Coorssen, Oldham County Schools attorney.

The Oldham County health department has not confirmed any H1N1 cases among Liberty students, said spokesperson Dori Livy. However, doctors and parents aren't required to report them.

"What we're being told is that the incubation period is four to five days. We're going to be looking at a four-day weekend, so we're hoping that by Tuesday the majority of students who've had symptoms are going to be able to come back to school, come back to an environment where the virus has been eradicated," Coorssen said.

Workers will spend the weekend disinfecting the school.  "I think they'll clean up the school and get it under control, hopefully," Paula Esposito said.

"The school days I'm going to have to make up," Max Esposito said.

Liberty is one example of how flu-like illnesses can spread quickly.  "Elementary kids are very touchy-feely. They're probably not the best at reminding themselves not to touch their faces or put things in their mouth. So I think it has to do with the age of the kids and the close quarters that they're in when it's raining like it has been the last couple of days," Coorssen said.

Oldham County schools saw one H1N1 flu case confirmed in mid-August.  Coorssen said no other schools report large numbers of flu-like illness. While Liberty will be closed Friday and Monday, all other Oldham County public schools will be open those days as usual.

"We're hoping when the students come back on Tuesday, it will be a normal day. We'll have close to normal attendance," Coorssen said.