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Clark County's swine flu cases up to 6

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By Kelly Mori , Staff Writer Updated 9:36 PM Friday, May 29, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — Two additional cases of swine flu from Northridge Middle School have been confirmed, officials announced Friday evening, May 29.

That brings the total in the county to six, five from what the health district has termed the “Northridge Cluster.” The latest cases involve students ages 13 and 14, both of whom experienced the onset of the illness prior to the Memorial Day weekend. The children are recovering at home and did not require hospitalization.

Earlier Friday, Clark County Combined Health District officials confirmed that a 15-year-old Shawnee High School student had tested positive for the virus. That case has no apparent connection to the Northridge Cluster.

Parents in the Clark-Shawnee Local School District are invited to attend an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Sunday at Shawnee High School, Superintendent Debbie Finkes said.

Northridge and Shawnee schools will remain open until the last day of school — June 2 for Northridge and June 3 for Shawnee High School.

However, absences at the Northridge middle and elementary schools jumped to 335 on Friday after a teacher and a 13-year-old student brought the confirmed cases at Northridge to three. Health officials have yet to find any link between the illnesses and any travel to Mexico, Patterson said.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, the county had four suspected cases waiting for results at the Ohio Department of Health. Three new suspected cases at Northridge will not be tested, Patterson said. The Ohio Department of Health said there was no more need to establish that the flu is present in Northridge and that physicians should treat any suspected case as swine flu.

The Health District will open a hot line between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. today, May 30, for residents with questions or concerns. That number is 937-390-5600.

Reduce your risk

Wash your hands often with soap and water.

Try to avoid close contact with sick people.

Sources: The Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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What is going on with the far north side of Springfield. I met a lady at a garage sale Friday who refused to go to the sales in N
Northridge for fear of contracting the swine flu.

Pat
9:50 PM, 5/31/2009

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to viceroy
health department is not sending anymore cases to the state for testing
however doctors are still testing and reporting results to the county level
certainly there will be many more cases to come as a result of the northridge cluster
is that the fault of the school? not necessarily
could it have been handled better YEP

tired of this
6:23 PM, 5/31/2009

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"parent",
It was already stated that all new flu cases are going to be treated as H1N1. They don't know that school is where the students picked up the virus. It could easily be the mall, church, store, restaurants, movie theater, or elsewhere that is the original source. All anyone can do is follow the suggestions of the CDC, which is what the school is doing. If you haven't, you are the one who has failed your child.

Viceroy
3:23 PM, 5/31/2009

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If the school did such a great job then why are kids still being diagnosed with the swine flu?? I know for a fact that today three more kids went to the doctor and are being treated as if they had the flu!! But hey put your trust into the school, however you will be making a trip to the doctors office!!

parent
10:44 PM, 5/30/2009

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glad to see that shawnee took precautions when they heard of our cases and began cleaning and sanitizing
wish our district would have done that maybe they would have aided in stopping the spread of the swine flu in our school
now that they wont be reporting the confirmed cases anymore we will never know how many people actually got it here

disappointed
8:15 PM, 5/30/2009

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