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OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, September 2, 2009 · 4 Officials prepare for the worst and hope for the best Continued from page 1 Nosal said there is no clear indication of how big of an impact the H1N1 virus will have on schools this fall or how virulent the strain will be. "What we don't know is that when it comes back, which I don't think is a matter of if, I do believe it will be circulating, but when it does, will the disease severity be the same, will it be more severe or could it be even less severe?" Nosal said. "There have been reports that if it mutates, it could be more severe, but we won't know until it comes back." Halton schools were hit hard with the virus last spring. By the end of the school year in June, there were 217 lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 in Halton. That number included 155 student cases in 53 Halton schools, which broke down to 29 in Oakville, 14 in Burlington, seven in Milton and three in Georgetown. "We know the number (of cases) would have been far higher than that, but those are 155 primarily lab-confirmed students," Nosal said. "For the vast majority of May and June, it was primarily in Oakville, but in the last two weeks of classes, it really started affecting schools in other communities." Halton has had 11 hospitalizations due to H1N1 to date, but there have been no deaths in the region as a result of the virus. While health officials will have to wait and see what happens this fall, reports from Australia and New Zealand, where it is now winter, show that the second wave of the virus has been less virulent than some health experts predicted. "What has happened there is that their flu season, although it may have been a little worse than a normal flu season, is not significantly worse," Nosal said. "Most of their (H1N1) illness has been mild. There are hospitalizations and there have been some deaths, but it's nowhere near what may have been envisioned when people use the word `pandemic'. So that's very important." However, the public school board is not taking any chances, according to Wayne Joudrie, director of education at the HDSB. Due to the high number of H1N1 cases this spring, the public school board implemented its Pandemic Response Plan, which is a comprehensive plan that identifies steps the board will take throughout each of the "We are taking this very seriously. We are working in concert to make sure our students and their safety is given top priority." Wayne Joudrie, director of education, Halton District School Board pandemic phases. Joudrie said this was the first time the plan has been implemented, and as such, the board was able to see what worked and what didn't, preparing them for another possible wave of the strain in the fall. "We are taking this very seriously," Joudrie said. "We are working in concert to make sure our students and their safety is given top priority. We'll wait and see what components of our pandemic plan will need to be put into place to support our staff and students." An important aspect of the board's plan is a pandemic team that has representation from all board departments. "We have a pandemic team that met initially on a daily basis through the spring and then once we got our process regularized and communication standardized, we met about once a week," he said. "There are a whole series of people that are at the table, like facilities, transportation, instruction and finance. All of those components are there and ready to go." Joudrie said that public health messaging, such as handwashing and coughing techniques, will be emphasized in the classrooms this fall. The public school board has also stocked up on non-alcohol-based hand sanitizer that will be made available in classrooms, particularly in portables where access to washrooms isn't as convenient, if recommended by the Halton Health Department. The school board also has a communication strategy in place for when a student is identified as having the virus. "Once a new school was identified with its first student confirmed to have H1N1, then that day or at the latest the next day, communication went out to all of the parents See Frequent page 5 BEAUTY&Spa 171 SPEERS RD. #19, OAKVILLE OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. 9:30-9:00pm, Wed. 9:30-6:00pm, Sat. 9:00-5:00, Sun. 12:00-5:00pm FORVNEWABLE! 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