Second case of swine flu reported at Oregon middle school

9/29/2009

With a second confirmed case of swine flu at Oregon's Fassett Middle School, the district plans to hold a community forum Wednesday to address health concerns.

Superintendent Michael Zalar said representatives of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and the district's school nurse will be on hand to provide information about the H1N1 virus and to answer questions at 7 p.m. in the Clay High School auditorium.

On Friday, school officials said a sixth grader at Fassett Middle School had tested positive for the virus, and on Monday parents were notified in a letter from Principal Tim Holcombe that an eighth grader also had been diagnosed with swine flu.

The letter said the eighth grader had the H1N1 virus but was not at school on Monday. It further stated that the school nurse had been in contact with the Lucas County Health Department "and there's currently no reason to believe we have a cluster outbreak."

Mr. Zalar urged parents to keep their children in school if they're healthy and to keep them at home if they're not.

While some parents were upset that Mr. Holcombe's letter indicated they would not be notified about future confirmed H1N1 cases, Mr. Zalar said it wouldn't be practical to do that "because it's the flu and we're not going to send a letter home any time somebody gets the flu."

"We're in communication with the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, and if concern grows to the point where there's a cluster or an outbreak that they consider to be serious, then we will address those concerns at that point in time in the future," he said.