Staff Writer
Cheronda Harris could be at the center of vulnerability should the novel influenza A H1N1 virus re-emerge in a pandemic this fall. The Lake Forest Hills Elementary School teacher works among some of the virus' favorite targets -- children -- and she is four months pregnant, which makes her four times more likely to be hospitalized should she catch it herself.
Jackie Ricciardi/Staff
Lake Forest Hills Elementary School teacher Cheronda Harris says that her pupils call her a germaphobe because she is very germ-conscious in her classroom.
As Richmond County teachers gathered Monday at their schools to begin preparing for the first day of classes Friday, Mrs. Harris is preparing to face flu season as well.
"My students seem to know that I consider myself a germaphobe," the second- and fourth-grade gifted resource teacher said. A sneeze in her classroom prompts other pupils to yell "hand sanitizer," beating her to it, she said. Mrs. Harris teaches her pupils the appropriate way to wash hands -- long enough to sing the alphabet -- and other good hygiene practices.
"That's the stance that I try to take -- the more proactive stance to it," she said. "It's a procedure of the classroom, so it becomes an expectation early on."
The school has not yet discussed guidelines, but last year teachers were "very meticulous" about following those practices and monitoring students, sending them home if they got sick, Lake Forest Hills Principal Sonya Bailey said.
"If they have fever, they're not here," she said.
That follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interim guidance for schools issued in May, which recommends isolating and sending children home and urges parents to keep sick children away from schools. The agency hopes to update that guidance in the next few weeks, a spokeswoman said.
The CDC met with states last week to go over its draft guidance for schools and get feedback, said Lynn Hammond, the project director for South Carolina Healthy Schools. That guidance might be available next week, and the state is in the midst of revising its own guidance based on that. The South Carolina Department of Education also is preparing letters to parents that offer basic guidance, Ms. Hammond said.
"Pretty much we're focusing right now on prevention measures, the basic what you would do for a cold or the regular flu," she said. "H1N1 is transmitted the same way."
In Columbia County, educators also focus on preventing the spread of germs to prevent the spread of flu.
At Evans Middle School, teachers start discussing how to halt the spread of germs at the beginning of the school year, Principal Mike Johnson said.
"We constantly talk to them about how to not spread germs, like covering their mouths with the inside of their arms instead of using their hands and then touching their desks," Mr. Johnson said.
Angel Hayes takes the same approach for all viruses -- new or not -- where her 6-year-old son, Matthew, is concerned.
"Because of his diabetes, it makes it that much harder when he gets sick," she said as she waited to talk to the school nurse at Lake Forest Hills. "So it's really important that we have our flu shot every year, and everyone in our home has to have a flu shot. If we could have everyone immunized at school, that would be great because the kids bring it home from school."
Staff Writers Donnie Fetter and Julia Sellers contributed to this report.
Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com.
