For months, Americans have seen images of Ebola patients in Africa on the news, but now there are two cases on our soil, one in Nebraska and one in Texas. The latter case is considered more troubling because last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and officials in Texas determined the ill person had direct contact with up to 80 people — including five schoolchildren.
Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles was the one who revealed that five students from different schools had possibly been exposed to the virus. The children are being monitored by Dallas County Health and Human Services staff and staying home from school for 21 days as a precaution.
Still, last week worry over Ebola caused enrollment to drop by 10 percent at those particular schools, according to an AP report.
Earlier this week Dallas ISD announced on its website that the five students originally identified “continue to show no symptoms of infection” and confirmed they “will remain out of school until the 21 day observation period has passed.”
To ease parental concerns about the risk of exposure, the district said the same level of additional nursing support as well as some additional custodial support “will remain in place through the coming week” at the five impacted schools. District officials assured families they will continue to provide health updates via their website and social media, and stay in touch with the CDC, the city of Dallas and Dallas County Health and Human Services.
“Ebola can be scary. But there’s all the difference in the world between the U.S. and parts of Africa where Ebola is spreading. The United States has a strong health care system and public health professionals who will make sure this case does not threaten our communities,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in a statement. “While it is not impossible that there could be additional cases associated with this patient in the coming weeks, I have no doubt that we will contain this.”
Other Outbreaks of Illness
Last week another breaking story on the spread of enterovirus D-68 from the Midwest to California put even more school districts on alert, with one case in Los Angeles confirmed in which the child suffered partial paralysis. Also in California, the spread of whooping cough has been linked to more parents refusing vaccines for their children that help ward off serious illnesses such as mumps and measles.
According to NBC News, public health officials are concerned about a measles outbreak in northeast Texas and in other places, including San Diego, Boone and Hamilton counties in Indiana, and Brooklyn, New York. In these communities, officials maintain that vaccine resistance has sickened children and put the wider community at risk for potentially deadly infectious diseases. Research shows that 90 percent of parents nationwide are following their pediatricians’ recommended vaccine schedule, but that leaves 10 percent who are not.
Dr. Saad Omer, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta who studies clusters of vaccine exemptions in public schools, told NBC the movement against vaccinations is growing. Take Marin County, California, where county figures show that rates of new kindergarteners excused from mandatory shots nearly doubled from 4.2 percent in 2005 to 7.8 percent in 2013: For example, at the small New Village School in Sausalito, 74 percent of new kindergarteners hadn’t received their vaccinations.
Experts agree that children who have not been vaccinated could put others at risk, especially very young children, adults and the elderly. This means school employees such as bus drivers could potentially be exposed to some age-old diseases that are resurfacing.
Prevention Tips for Educators
So what can schools do to fight the spread of disease? Study results presented at an American Society for Microbiology meeting in Washington, D.C., showed that germy hands are worse than sneezes in the spread of disease, particularly in communal buildings such as schools and offices. People deposit the germs on tables, desks and other surfaces, and when others touch those objects, they pick them up.
The good news is that using disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizers almost completely cut that spread, according to Charles Gerba, professor of microbiology and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona.
Gerba said that many states are reporting unusually high numbers of serious infections with the EV-D68 respiratory virus, and added that its rapid spread is likely due to school resuming, which means more newly susceptible children were exposed to it.
“We found we could reduce absenteeism by 50 percent if kids would just disinfect their desks once a day,” Gerba said.
There are no vaccines for EV-D68, according to the CDC. The agency suggests the following measures to prevent the spread of any respiratory illness:
- Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds.
- Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid kissing, hugging and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick.
- Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as handrails or doorknobs.
The CDC provides information on how to clean and disinfect schools to help slow the spread of influenza and other viruses, and the U.S. EPA provides a downloadable guide for school and transportation administrators, titled “Cleaning, Sanitizing and Targeted Disinfecting on the School Bus.”
According to the NEA Health Information Network, which published the latter, a comprehensive cleaning program should include an Infection Control Plan (ICP) with a clear protocol for regular cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting, including steps to take in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.
It is also recommended that schools provide training programs for all staff on proper cleaning and disinfecting procedures as well as what products to use.
School bus drivers are advised to request a copy of the school district’s ICP and be familiar with the sections that cover school buses. The ICP should contain the following information:
- Areas considered high risk and high-touch points such as hand railings, grab bars and seatbacks that may require sanitizing and targeted disinfecting on top of routine cleaning;
- Procedures for cleaning high-touch points, including which district-approved products to use and when tasks should be completed (daily or in between trips);
- A list of products that are approved and supplied by your district’s transportation or custodial/maintenance department for cleaning; and
- A list of staff members who are designated and trained to perform these cleaning tasks.
At Newport-Mesa Unified School District in Southern California, school bus drivers are responsible for cleaning the interior and exterior of its 60 route buses once a week. Mike Sage, transportation parts assistant, said the drivers switch from milder cleaning products to stronger germicidal cleaners for the bus interiors at the onset of flu season in October, and this year is no different.
Sage explained that cleaning the bus’ interior includes mopping the floor, washing the windows, wiping handrails, and spraying and wiping down seats, including seatbacks.
“The aerosol blankets the (seating) area and dries instantaneously. The wipes are used in an area you want to spend more time on,” he said, adding that some bus drivers provide hand sanitizers, wipes and/or tissues to their students to help curb the spread of germs. “I don’t think it’s specific to what’s going on in the news. It really depends on the drivers and how they feel about the germs.”
In a Sept. 3 blog, the Nozin officials noted that every day 24 million students travel on a school bus, which can be a breeding ground for contamination with “ample opportunities” for exposure to and transmission of germs.
“Third-party testing done on various interior surfaces of a public school bus found various levels of mold and bacterial contaminants. Samples taken 30 minutes after the same area was treated with a broad spectrum disinfectant found that the total bacterial concentration was reduced by between 75% and 89%, while total mold concentration was reduced by a full 90%,” according to the blog.
Union Springs Professional (USP) said that its Germ Prevention Program is clinically proven to remove 99% of bacteria, mold, and mildew while also preventing their growth for up to 30 days. Also, the company stated the program has proven to improve school attendance rates by creating a healthier environment for students and staff.
