Upon hearing that she had swine flu, senior Mallory Hinz feared the worst.
“I thought that within a couple of days I would be like bedridden and in the hospital,” Hinz said.
Luckily, the illness didn’t land her in the emergency room. On the contrary, Hinz said, the worst part was simply having a high temperature.
“It really wasn’t that bad,” Hinz said. “I mean, it was annoying, just because it was such a high fever.”
Regardless, Hinz still had to miss five days of school, and she was not alone.
As of Friday, November 20, Seaholm had 13 absences due to flu or flu-like symptoms, six of which were confirmed cases of H1N1.
With finals on November 20, 23 and 24, the sickness came at the most inopportune time for junior Elizabeth Harris.
Harris was told that she had swine flu on Monday, November 16, and missed three days of school.
“I guess I could have stayed home another day,” Harris said. “But I was sort of stressed with all the work and tests that I missed.”
Though like Hinz most students recover relatively quickly from H1N1, assistant principal Deb Boyer stresses that it should not be overlooked.
“I do think that this is definitely serious,” Boyer said.
One of the dangers of H1N1, according to Boyer, is the ability for it to develop into a more severe illness.
“In at least two of the confirmed cases that I’m aware of, I know that [H1N1] has turned into pneumonia,” Boyer said. “And pneumonia is what can be devastating.”
She added that there are a number of things that students can to do avoid spreading or contracting the disease.
“We have the hand sanitizers that you can use that will help to kill [the germs],” Boyer said. However, she stressed that simply using hand sanitizer won’t guarantee protection.
“Nothing is better than hot, or at least warm, soap and water and a thorough, 20-seccond scrubbing.”
Attendance secretary Sue Pomroy echoed Boyer, emphasizing the importance of hand washing.
“I think everybody has to be cautious and just wash and wash and wash your hands,” Pomroy said. “That’s the key right now.”
