Swine flu fears compounded by lack of space in some city schools

October 26, 6:45 AMNY Education ExaminerLorri Giovinco-Harte

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The New York City Department of Health has constructed specific procedural steps for school officials to take in suspected swine flu cases. According to their protocol, students who show symptoms are to be immediately given a surgical mask to wear and then asked several questions:

Has the student traveled to Mexico within seven days of onset of symptoms?
Does the student have a sibling or close contact that attends St. Francis High School in Queens?
Is the student a contact of a known case of swine flu?

Procedure dictates that students who answer positively to any of the above questions are then to be immediately removed from the rest of the school population.

The problem with this procedure, however, is that in some schools, there is no place to isolate the children.

Daily News reporter, Meredith Kolodner writes that officials in some of the city's most overcrowded schools are concerned about their ability to properly handle suspected swine flu cases. She quotes several school employees throughout the city as expressing their fears:

A nurse at a Queens school where dozens of children fell ill last year from swine flu warned that her school is "not set up to properly handle the need to isolate a large number of children.You cannot create a room from thin air," she said.

"I have a wonderful principal and a very supportive staff," said Sandra Ellen Bell, the nurse for more than 900 students at three schools in one Harlem building. "But the school has expanded, so there's very little room now. It's a real problem."

The sentiment seems to be echoed throughout some of the city's most overpopulated schools.

DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg reacted to the concerns by explaining that she is confident schools "will handle the situation."

Better get started creating from thin air...