More schools close as flu worries rise

With six of the seven new cases of probable swine flu in King County affecting children, schools are starting to close — and more such announcements may be coming.

Five have announced closures so far: Madrona K-8, Aki Kurose Middle School and Stevens Elementary in Seattle; Woodmont K-8 in Des Moines, and Odyssey Elementary in Mukilteo.

Madrona K-8, which closed Thursday after it was determined an 11-year-old student there likely had swine flu, will open again on May 7. Aki Kurose, Stevens and Woodmont — each of which has a student who is one of the new suspected flu cases — closed as of today. They are scheduled to reopen on May 8.

The Woodmont K-8 student was in school Thursday morning for a short time before he was sent home by the school's staff because he had flu symptoms, said Federal Way School District spokeswoman Diane Turner.

Later in the day, the district learned from the Seattle-King County health department that the boy had a probable case of swine flu, and that the school needed to close for seven days.

Turner would not disclose the boy's age or grade, but did say he was in an elementary grade. She said building staff would go through the school to try to disinfect it in the coming days.

Odyssey Elementary in Mukilteo announced it would be closed at least for today after authorities determined that the parent of one student likely had swine flu. The student had been sick recently, too, but has not been diagnosed with swine flu and had not been at school for a week.

Andy Muntz, spokesman for the Mukilteo School District, said the Snohomish Health District has collected a list of students who've been out sick in the past week and is contacting their families. Based on those findings, the school could remain closed beyond today. "We're going one day at a time," Muntz said.

In general, officials from Public Health — Seattle & King County said they would continue to recommend that schools close for a week if it's determined any student attended class while contagious, said Dr. David Fleming, the department's director.

The policy could be modified, he said, if swine flu proves to be either more or less severe than is now believed.

13 suspected cases

So far, there are 13 suspected cases of swine flu in the state.

Public-health officials announced the first six cases on Wednesday. Three are in King County, including the 11-year-old Madrona student, a 27-year-old man, and a 33-year-old pediatrician who contracts with The Everett Clinic.

The pediatrician became ill Monday night after seeing patients that day in The Everett Clinic's Mill Creek location, said Dr. Yuan-Po Tu, medical director of The Everett Clinic's walk-in clinics.

The doctor had itchy eyes and nasal symptoms Monday but thought it was seasonal allergies, Tu said. But after going home Monday night, she ran a fever and went to a local emergency room.

The patients she had treated Monday and staff who worked with her will be evaluated and treated as necessary, the clinic said.

Two of the initial six cases are in Snohomish County: a 3-year-old boy who had returned on April 24 from a trip to Mexico with his family, and a 34-year-old Lynnwood woman.

The sixth initial case is a Spokane man whom health officials say is no longer contagious.

Of the seven new cases announced Thursday, two are children of the pediatrician who worked at The Everett Clinic. The other four children range in age from under 5 to 12. The other patient is a woman in her 20s.

It will take a few days for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm whether the cases are indeed swine flu

Child-care problems

At Madrona K-8, the first school to close, parents scrambled to find child care.

Christina Robinson, a single mother, was nearly in tears as she described calling friends and relatives, beginning at 6:30 a.m., to watch her kindergarten-age son while she went to work. Three people initially said yes, then declined, afraid of getting ill themselves, she said, even though her son doesn't even have the sniffles.

Madrona parents were also wondering about group activities including Little League. Jon Hughes, vice president of the school's parent-teacher organization and coach of a girls softball team, said he was trying to find out whether groups of Madrona children can safely come together outside of school.

"It's just one incident," he said of the school's flu case. "You could be on a city bus today and be exposed to something. But I'll trust the professionals on that."

Rita Sheckler, parent of a Madrona second-grader, said the closure has been hard on students, who wonder why it happened to their school.

"They felt like their school had the cooties," she said.

At St. Therese Elementary, a Catholic school in the Madrona neighborhood, the staff wiped down doorknobs and other surfaces three times a day and regularly squirted kids' hands with sanitizer.

The school is just a block from Madrona K-8 and although the two schools don't share activities, a large city park and playground are adjacent to both, said Principal Eileen Gray.

Even before the announcement that a case of swine flu was likely at Mukilteo's Odyssey Elementary, parents were in panic mode, said spokesman Muntz, with some asking that "anything and everything" be disinfected.

The Lake Washington School District has also fielded calls from nervous parents, said spokeswoman Kathryn Reith. One parent suggested that the district shut down every one of its schools.

Cases not as severe

Though the number of probable cases in Washington is growing, the good news is "the level of severity has been closer to the more typical influenza virus you would see circulating during normal" flu season, said King County Public Health director Fleming.

In addition, he said, there's been no increase in absenteeism in schools, meaning the virus is "not yet very common in our school-age children."

And though the number of people visiting emergency rooms started to go up April 26, when publicity about swine flu began, hospital admissions for severe respiratory illnesses have not increased in King County, he said.

Even so, some health-care providers were taking extra steps to help prevent the flu from spreading.

On Thursday, The Polyclinic started stationing medical staff at every entrance of its 12 clinics throughout Seattle to screen people as they come in.

The idea is not to scare people, but to separate those with flu symptoms so that people coming in for other procedures feel safe, said Polyclinic spokeswoman Tracy Corgiat.

At The Polyclinic's headquarters on Capitol Hill, staff are turning the physical-therapy room into a flu-assessment center. The center — which has its own entrance and separate parking lot — should be open by today.

"We don't want anyone to panic," Corgiat said. "We just want to be ready."

Information from Seattle Times staff reporter Maureen O'Hagan and The Associated Press was used in this report. Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com.