Albert Lea High School and other local schools are beginning to deal with absences due to presumed H1N1 influenza cases, and they are sticking to their plans.

“It’s not just at the high school; there’s illness through the whole community,” said Albert Lea Area Schools nurse Lisa Dugger.

Health officials were expecting a resurgence of H1N1 in the fall when students returned to school.

School officials said the number of absences are not overwhelming, and they are sticking to plans to educate students about good hygiene and encouraging sick children to stay home until 24 hours after they are fever free without medication.

“I hope that the community and the parents are taking the information and using it and following the directions they’re being given by the medical community,” Dugger said.

On Tuesday, Albert Lea High School had experienced nearly double the number of students typically out with influenza-like symptoms, said Abby Murray, high school attendance secretary. Flu-like illnesses account for students absent with a fever and a cough or sore throat.

According to Murray, 52 students were absent from the high school with flu symptoms on Tuesday, which Murray said was nearing the 5 percent of students required to report the numbers to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Reporting to state health officials is not new. School officials have reported to the Department of Health in the past, but it’s different this year because state health officials are avidly seeking those figures.

While 50 absent students are needed to hit 5 percent at the high school, only 22 students were absent on Wednesday with flu-like symptoms, though a number of students were absent with other illnesses.

Lakeview Elementary School reported to the Department of Health this year, but not because 5 percent of the students were absent. The school reported because four students from one class were out with flu symptoms, which was an exception to the 5 percent rule, because they were younger children, said district nurse Carol Bosma.

None of those cases was confirmed as H1N1, and two of the students returned to school the next day, said Lakeview Principal Jean Jordan.

“It’s just a numerical thing. This time of year that’s not completely unusual that things like that would happen, that three or four little ones get sick. It’s just that now, because of this, we have to report it,” Jordan said.

One student from the Lake Mills School District in Iowa was diagnosed with H1N1 by an Albert Lea doctor, though the case was not lab-confirmed, said Lake Mills school nurse Joan Krull.

According to ALMC infection preventionist Patty Abbott, about 98 percent of the current flu cases are H1N1. That information comes from surveillance labs, she said. State health officials are currently discouraging ill people from going to medical centers for H1N1 testing because there is little benefit to testing, Abbott said. 

More flu absences can be expected, as health officials predict the number of flu cases will peak in October, and then decrease when the H1N1 vaccine becomes available around the end of October.

“Hopefully, we’ll see a decrease from there because most people will have had it, and then also the vaccine should be available by then, too,” Dugger said.

“It’s going to be an issue for a while,” Dugger said.