Ebola in the U.S. has many on guarded alert. The devastation in Africa has Americans worried that it’s only a matter of time until we start to see rising death tolls here in the states. Numerous schools over the past weeks have suspended classes and closed campuses in response to scares that some of their students or parents came into contact with one of the few confirmed Ebola patients in the U.S. This panic is prompting people to take extra precautionary measures to keep their families safe.
Infectious-disease experts and public health officials say closing schools is going beyond necessary measures. Dr. Robert L. Murphy, Director of the Center for Global Health at Northwestern University’s Institute for Public Health and Medicine said, “It’s almost riskier being in schools where they don’t have mandated regular preventative vaccines [for other illnesses].”
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the virus is only contracted by making contact with the bodily fluids of a person showing symptoms of the illness (high fever, body aches, nausea, and diarrhea). Infected patients show symptoms within 21 days, the incubation period of the virus.
Schools around the country are not taking any chances. As a recent Wall Street Journal article reports, schools are responding to fears of an Ebola outbreak by drafting first-of-a-kind policies that isolate students, querying parents about travel, and requiring documents declaring a clean bill of health for new enrollees from West Africa.
In Maple Shade, NJ, a family that had recently come to the U.S. from Rwanda, an African country 3,000 miles from where Ebola is spreading and has no documented cases of the disease, was asked to keep their children home for 21 days before enrolling them. A flood of media attention pressured the district to allow their children to enroll sooner.
A school district in Phillips, Maine, put a teacher on 21 days of paid administrative leave after parents expressed concern that the teacher had recently traveled to Dallas, Texas.
In Montgomery County public schools in Maryland, parents will be asked about recent travel to outbreak-affected countries if their child has fever and symptoms such as nausea and vomiting. The child may be isolated in a school’s health room or other area until documentation can be provided.
Stories such as these are popping up all over media sources, which some public health experts believe is creating panic.As with any epidemic, clear and fact-based education is important. Having an emergency response plan in case Ebola or any illness enters your community is proactive planning. However, putting your plan in action without having all the facts can cause more damage than benefit—including public scrutiny.
As we begin to enter flu season, a time of year where viruses that share many symptoms similar to Ebola are prevalent, it is important to remember that Ebola is NOT spread through casual contact much like common colds and flu virus are. It's also important to keep in mind that the CDC believes the risk of an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. is very low. Do take precautionary measures such as requesting travel information from families, but do not panic at the first signs of fever and nausea.
Additional ISM articles of interest
Private School News Vol. 13 No. 8 Herd Immunity and Vaccination Exemptions in Private Schools
ISM Monthly Update for Business Managers Vol. 13 No. 1 Disaster Liability: The Tick Encephalitis Case
