Tracking Flu in TN Schools

Here's a good forum board resource for tracking H1N1 flu in Tennessee - go to the bottom of the page to the forum area, click on School-Specific Reports, then select your state:

http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/

This forum board is FANTASTIC for keeping up with the status of H1N1 in schools in your area. People are doing a fabulous job of keeping the information current; doing what would take one of us hours of internet searching. I highly recommend that you follow this forum if you want to keep tabs on what is going on in schools in your area.

Also, if you zero in to TN on the FluTracker Map, it is interesting to me to note there is a lot of flu in middle and eastern parts of TN being reported, but virtually none in West TN. I for one find this very difficult to believe and wonder why it seems as though there is very little in the West TN area. I would tend to think it is because of lack of reporting and or testing.

Especially given this:

190 Students at One Shelby County School Sick with Flu Symptoms

Excerpt:

(Memphis 9/4/2009) - The student population at Shadowlawn Middle School is the latest to feel the effects of the flu.

Twenty percent of the students have been out sick the last few days.

"Today they did have 190 students out. That's out of a population of 880. That's approximately 20%, which is high." says Mike Tebbe, spokesperson for Shelby County Schools.

Shawdowlawn alerted parents by letter, saying many of the absences were due to flu-like symptoms, such as cough, sore throat,, runny or stuffy nose, body aches and fever.

Parents are told if your child is ill or shows any of the above symptoms, keep them home.

"A little nervous because I have two children here. Then I have two in elementary and one in high school, so you know it could spread through all of them, so it's very concerning." says Paula Csap, a Shadowlawn parent.

With the H1N1 threat, parents at Shadowlawn are being urged to take precautions.

"Students do need to stay home if they are ill. If they do have flu like symptoms, they need to seek medical attention for that." says Tebbe.

Parents, whose kids are ok right now, are doing what they can to keep it that way.

"Make sure they wash their hands. Anybody coughing, try not to be so close. If they have to cough, cover their mouth and everything." says Csap.

Shelby County school officials say during the flu season, it's normal to have 140 students miss school.

So 190 out is very high.

Anyone in West TN have first-hand experiences to report? Also, others from around the state are welcome to comment about what you are seeing in your areas.