The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is the major source of information about the health of noninstitutionalized Americans -- you and me and our neighbors. Data collection started in 1956 and consists of ongoing data collection and special studies on illness and disability and their trends. Data is done using a questionnaire given to a representative household probability sample of the US population. If you want the gory details you can find them here. A recent report, presented in the CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWR) QuickStats format, gives the estimated percentage of students who missed school in the preceding 12 months because of illness or injury.
Here is the NHIS question: "During the past 12 months, that is, since [reference date 12 months ago], about how many days did [name of sample child] miss school because of illness or injury?"
Here is a barchart giving percentage of students aged 5 - 17 versus number of days missed at school:
The MMWR synopsis of these same data:
In 2006, an estimated 29% of students aged 5--17 years never missed a day of school during the preceding 12 months because of illness or injury. The majority (56%) missed 1--5 days, 10% missed 6--10 days, and 5% missed >11 days of school.
In other words, there is really little absenteeism from illness among American school children. The big question is whether this is because American school children don't get sick or whether the pressures to keep them in school -- academic, lack of child care at home -- keeps the numbers low, and if so, by how much.
These data tell us we do not currently have much experience or structure for dealing with widespread school absenteeism. A pandemic with even a mild strain would cause a big problem. So we don't need a doomsday scenario to start preparing in earnest.
Just thought I'd mention it.
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We are schtoooooped here in Australia. This afternoon I waltzed into the main office of my children's school and asked if there were any plans a foot vis-a-veeeeee a possible pandemic. The answer was "No" and then I was roundly laughed out the door. How rude!
Erm, maybe someone would like to comment on the equine influenza situation that's spreading rapidly across Australia??
Alvin,
I can only tell you what I have seen on TV or in the press.
So here goes.
As of 24 September 2007, there are 243 infected properties in Queensland. This is an increase of 45 properties from the 21st September 2007. Buffer zones and ring vaccination will be used to contain areas of high concentration of equine influenza in New South Wales and in Queensland. Movement of horses around Australia has been banned. The government is reminding people that simply patting an infected horse could spread the virus. Veterinary Officers have stated EI will only be controlled if people exercise common sense and good hygiene practices when they are in the vicinity of horses in infected areas. Australia will be importing approximately 55,000 doses of vaccine. All those properties with sick horses are in complete lock down, movement in or out of these properties can only happen after the correct bio-hazard procedures have been followed.
Our government has put aside several million dollars to help those property owners affected by lock down. Tens of thousands of dollars are being lost everyday. Don't get me started on the costs of the horse deaths.
Even after the ban had been set in place, there were reports that the far far set (weekend horsey set) were rushing about the country side (down back roads) getting to horse meets or getting their horses home.
Some TV journalists with A Current Affair Australia were shown filming sick horses and even touching them. The journalists then went onto other properties to touch other horses. At no time did the journalists follow the recommended bio hazard procedures. I suppose they just had to get that story. POYAH'S. Sorry I loathe and detest journalists.
Some enterprising Horse Cubs have come up with innovative ways to still compete. For example
Don't let Equine Flu stop you from showing your horses!!!! The Manning Valley Performance Horse Club has decided to run an ON LINE HORSE SHOW. etc.
It will be interesting you we humans will behave during our own bird flu pandemic.
Sorry should read
It will be interesting to see how we humans behave during our own bird flu pandemic.
For what it's worth, early last YEAR I made persistent enquiries of the Department of Education in New South Wales (Australia) regarding their plans for pandemic, specifically how lessons might be delivered/marked/continued when schools closed. Perhaps online??? The silence was deafening, and eventually the spokesperson said they were "working on it". I didn't believe them at the time, and recent enquiries on the same subject have not shed any more light.
So folks, have a think about your day as you keep your kids occupied for several weeks at home. And I hope your school system is better prepared for it than what I have seen.
Robt,
If a pandemic were to hit anytime soon, Australia would be doomed. Why aren't alarm bells ringing? This is crazy. I don't understand the in-action.
Asking people to have food and water for emergencies, can't be that difficult.
New Zealand is looking better everyday.
I can tell you unfortunately schools want you to send your sick kids to school.You see the schools are paid by the seat. If your child misses a day of school they don't get the $ for your child for that day.
At my kids they have a perfect attendence board up so your kids won't want to miss school or their name gets taken off it. I know for a fact many people send their sick kids to school. I don't because I think it's rude to infect other people if you know you are sick. My kids miss an avg of 8-10 days of school a year with some bug or another. And I don't think they are more sickly than most kids!
Victoria: I think it is overly pessimistic to say Australia is "doomed". Are we very unprepared?...yes and no. There are pretty good Federal and State paper plans, alot of money and effort has gone into them, as well as measures like exercise Cumpson to test the plans. But does that mean we are ready? Not by a long shot, and if our communities don't wake up and start preparing with measures that support home shelter in place strategies, then there are going to be alot of very hungry families after a couple of weeks, who will then go to food stores and risk becoming infected and bringing the virus back into the home.
It is clear the health and political authorities do NOT want to tell "us" about the grim realities too early, or too late. I disagree with this policy, but it is a difficult task to make any headway in the pandemic education process.
Rebecca: With respect, once the pandemic hits and people are dying (exponentially), believe me, schools will close faster than you can imagine. People will vote with their feet, and what parent would send their child to school with the risk of dying?
I don't know whether the $-for-attendance thing is widely true (I don't think it is at schools in our area, though schools do get funded based on enrollment), but I totally agree with doing away with rewards for "good attendance."
Let's campaign to redefine "good attendance" as "attend only when well enough to benefit from instruction and not pass disease to others"! Yeah, that's a catchy slogan. :-)
RobT
I am sorry, I have to disagree with you.
"there are going to be a lot of very hungry families" - millions of them. Millions of people that now nothing about Bird Flu. Millions of people infecting each other.
Our government has said the square root of zero about the coming pandemic. I fear that they have left it too late. It takes a few years to educate a nation properly. It takes a lot of baby steps. Instead of educating, our government appears to have the arrogance to think that they can control a panicked, starving public. It is sheer lunacy.
The Americans have been taking the baby steps for a few years now, and are slowly getting their populace ready.
Australia on the other hand has not. So yes Australia is doomed.
isles - I don't know where you're from, but where I live, the decision to close a school is pretty much based on two things. 1. The level of student absenteeism, and the break-even point (where the income from the number of students in attendance equals the cost of opening) is roughly 30%
and
2. Whether there are enough teachers/substitutes to staff the classrooms.
Every year, we get requests (from school admins) for the "health department" to order the school closed during flu season. That's because, if we do, the school gets their full reimbursement.
Actually folks, NZ was one of the first to get it that if it came and took even a few of their people they would be in trouble and fast. Knock out the "5%" suggestion out of their population and its a total fubar. . Their panflu plan was one of the first to say they would close schools for the flu and in a fast hurry. The population of NZ is less than Tennessee at 4 mill and change. So losing a town would be a big thing. They also have birds, lots of them so the chances are there that it might go south fast. The UN hailed their plan as the one that the world should adopt and many did.
Here is a link. They are on Rev 16 as the virus has been adapting, so have they. Very good stuff.
http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/nz-influenza-pandemic-action-pla…
The US by the way is going to bring it to the front in the next couple of weeks as 2700 banking institutions put up signs that say, "Pandemic Exercise Underway" and then physically test the system to see how the banks will work under a pandemic. People will be randomly selected to go home for extended periods until on a Wednesday they call it peak and 40% are sent out for a couple of hours.
Start messing with peoples money and they are going to get awareness fast. Good.
Here is the link for that.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.pandemic25sep25,0,4373739.s…
I can tell you that in our schools, the administration, teachers and certainly the school nurses beg parents to keep sick kids home. Alas, even in our community where the number of work-at-home and stay-at-home parents is huge, sick kids are routinely sent to school with all manner of illness. My kids stay home with me whenever they are sick. In fact, I let my kids take mental health days to promote sanity and overall wellness. Both are high-achieving honor roll students and all-around good human beings.
consider for a second that something like 40% of wage-earners in the US do not have 1 day of paid sick leave. i'll take my beating for not citing the original source, but it comes from a reputable person (in my opinion), Kristin Nichol of the Minnesota VA and U of MN school of medicine.
if it is indeed true, how can one take off work to care for a sick child when it means losing 20% of her/his wages for the week?
The wisdom in sending kids to public school in the first place is something I question more all the time, but we could treat that as a separate question, assume that the potential benefits of having kids spend time in school outweigh the potential detriments, and disregard as irrelevant any questions concerning the motives of those responsible for establishing policy regarding attendance. If sending kids to school is good, it follows that keeping the seats filled is also good.
The question becomes one of determining the best strategy for obtaining the best possible overall attendance record at the end of the term. Encouraging a sick kid to attend runs the risk of ending up with a greater number of sick kids, some of which will likely end up at some point too sick to come no matter how much you encourage them to do so. The alternative is to encourage the sick kid to stay home, gambling his seat-day against the hope of preventing such a scenario. It isn't obvious to me which approach would produce the better attendance record.
Actually, sapo, 50% of the US workforce has no leave of any kind. We are the only nation in the industrialized West with out a guarantee of leave time. See more here.
thanks Melanie.
has there ever been an attempt in this country to establish an isolated, sick-kid care facility within public schools? a place where working parents could still send their kid to school for the day, but the kid would be kept in isolation, or with other sick kids, for the 8-hour day, attended by a nurse.