South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control

We promote and protect the health of the public and the environment.

• Flu Symptoms
• Where to Get Flu Shot
• Facts About Flu
• S.C. Flu Cases
• Free Posters, Resources
• Info for Specific Groups
• Older Adults
• People with Health Problems
• Parents
• Pregnant Women
• Healthcare Professionals
• Schools and Child Care Centers
• Businesses
• Residential Facilities
• Flu: Background Info
• What is a Pandemic?
• What is Seasonal Flu?
• What is H1N1 Flu?
• What is Avian Flu?
• Need more info?
• Visit the CDC
• Visit Flu.gov

Schools and Child Care Centers

Influenza can cause mild to severe respiratory illness and can even lead to death.

Children — especially children under 2 years of age — face higher than normal risk of complications.

Symptoms of Influenza

The flu is different from the common cold. When a person gets the flu, one or more of these symptoms will probably come on suddenly — about 48 to 72 hours after contact with the virus:

• Fever (usually high)
• Headache
• Extreme tiredness
• Dry cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Muscle aches

Occasionally, stomach symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Urgent Warning Signs

These symptoms indicate that a student or staff member needs immediate medical attention:

In children:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash.

In adults:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting.

Advice for K-12 Schools and Early Child Care Centers

Here are ways that your school and child care center can help prevent and slow the spread of flu among students, staff and families:

• Encourage staff and students to learn the facts about vaccination and get vaccinated against influenza.
• Advise parents to talk with their healthcare provider about getting their families immunized.
• Tell staff and parents about Web sites that can help them find DHEC flu clinics and locate clinics offered by other community providers.
• Follow the DHEC exclusion criteria for students and staff. Require children and staff to stay home if they have a fever of 100°F or higher with a cough or sore throat. Require them to stay home until their fever has been gone for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications. In most cases children and staff with the flu will miss 3 to 5 days.
• Separate ill students and staff from the rest of the school population until they can go home.
• Recommend that staff and parents of children who have flu-like symptoms see their health care provider right away if they are at high risk for complications from the flu. Early treatment with antiviral medications may help lessen the symptoms. Those at high risk include:
• Children younger than 5 years old
• Children younger than 18 years who are on long-term aspirin treatment
• Children and adults who have chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes or other lung, heart, liver, blood, neurologic, neuromuscular, or metabolic disorders
• Children and adults with weak immune systems
• Pregnant women, and
• People aged 65 years or older.
• If you don’t already have one, establish a list of on-call workers to cover for staff who are ill.
• Consider how policies can be changed to support rather than penalize staff who must miss work because they are ill with the flu. Keep in mind that when symptoms are mild, the employee may not need to see a health care provider.
• Encourage staff and students to wash their hands often with soap and water. Ask them to get into the habit of washing their hands for about as long as it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice.
• Child care centers:  Check children daily for signs or symptoms of illness.
• Ask staff and students to cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze and throw the tissue in the trash.
• Encourage staff and students to eat a healthy diet, exercise and get plenty of rest.
• Frequently wipe down commonly touched surfaces like stairway railings, telephones, door handles and toys. Otherwise, follow your normal housekeeping routine. Get additional information on environmental disinfection to prevent flu from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• How to clean and disinfect schools to help prevent the spread of flu.
• Download, post and distribute free DHEC flu materials
• Educate parents, staff and students about the dangers of giving aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) to children or teenagers who have the flu. This can cause a rare but serious illness called Reye’s syndrome.
• Consider selective school dismissal in flu outbreaks, especially if your school has a sizeable number of medically fragile or pregnant students.

Influenza Vaccine

Flu vaccines are your staff and students’ best protection against the flu. The CDC has produced information sheets, called Vaccine Information Statements (VISs), to explain the benefits and risks of the seasonal vaccines.

SCDHEC encourages all South Carolinians to get vaccinated against influenza.

These Groups Need Flu Vaccines the Most

The CDC identified certain groups of people who are particularly susceptible to influenza viruses. SCDHEC urges all South Carolinians to get influenza vaccines.

The following persons should seek an influenza vaccine as soon as possible:

• All persons aged >50 years
• All children aged 6 months to 4 years (59 months)
• Adults and children who have chronic pulmonary (including asthma), cardiovascular (except isolated hypertension), renal, hepatic, neurological, hematological or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus)
• Adults and children who are immunosuppressed (including immunosuppression caused by medications or by human immunodeficiency virus
• Women who are or will be pregnant during the influenza season
• Children and adolescents (aged 6 months-18 years) who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy and therefore might be at risk for experiencing Reye syndrome after influenza virus infection
• Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities
• American Indians/Alaska Natives
• Persons who are morbidly obese (BMI>40)
• Healthcare personnel
• Household contacts and caregivers of children aged <5 years and adults aged >50 years, with particular emphasis on vaccinating contacts of children aged <6 months
• Household contacts and caregivers of persons with medical conditions that put them at high risk for severe complications from influenza.

Get updates on vaccine availability in South Carolina, learn more about vaccine safety, and find a flu vaccine clinic in your local area.

For more information on flu vaccines, see these CDC resources:

• How to Clean and Disinfect Schools to Help Slow the Spread of Flu (pdf)
• Summary of Seasonal Influenza Recommendations for K-12 Schools for the 2010-2011 School Year (pdf)
• Flu Myths and Realities
• Children, the Flu, and the Flu Vaccine

School Closings

For information on school closings, contact your local public school district or private school.

School Flu Planning

K-12 Schools

• Seasonal flu information for schools and childcare providers

Child Care Centers & Early Childhood Programs

• Preventing the Spread of Influenza (the Flu) in Child Care Settings: Guidance for Administrators, Care Providers, and Other Staff
• Preparing Child Care Programs for Pandemic Influenza
• Flu Webcast for U.S. Child Care Providers and Parents

Flu Information in Other Languages:

• American Sign Language Videos on Flu for People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
• Flu.gov Multi-Language Fact Sheets in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, German, Italian, Korean,  Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

If, after reading the information available on our website, you have questions about the vaccine,
please call 1-800-27SHOTS (1-800-277-4687).