Harrington School remains open as swine flu makes Lynn debut

LYNN – A Harrington Elementary School teacher has been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as Swine Flu, school and health officials confirmed Wednesday.The female teacher is the first confirmed case in the city, although officials say it is likely that others had contracted the virus and were not tested, as fears over the severity of the pig-borne illness have subsided.Harrington remains open in accordance with Department of Health regulations and officials say no other students or teachers have shown symptoms of the flu and are not in danger.”At this point it is safe to say that it is already in the community whether it has been confirmed or not, but this is our first confirmed case,” said City Health Director Maryanne O’Connor. “They are not testing for it as much as they were before, in fact, this person was only tested because her health insurance plan required it.”O’Connor said the teacher actually became ill with flu symptoms on May 11 and was on the road to recovery when the test confirmed that what she was suffering from was actually Swine Flu.The city was informed of the test results Tuesday and required the teacher, who had not yet returned to work, to stay home until 24 hours after she has stopped having symptoms.Harrington Principal Michael Molnar informed parents of the case Tuesday eventing.O’Connor said the teacher did come in contact with students for at least three days following her first symptoms, but is confident that the disease did not spread to other teachers or students, as symptoms would have already surfaced.”It is kind of a non-event,” she said. “If there was going to be any spread of the disease it would have been during her incubation period, her onset was the 11th and I believe she went home on the 14th, so anyone who would have contracted the virus would have been sick by the 18th at the very latest.”The regulation is that you require them to stay home at least seven days or until they are symptom free. That usually means staying home until the cough subsides, actually, 24 hours after it subsides.”Superintendent Catherine Latham was quickly informed of the situation Tuesday night and said the school department will follow O’Connor’s advice regarding all public health issues in the school.”We are following Maryanne on this, she is the point person,” said Latham. “The school is still open and will remain open as suggested in the DPH guidelines.”Swine Flu struck fear and paranoia in several nations when it first originated last month in Mexico and South America. It quickly spread to other countries, including the United States.A Breed Middle School student who had recently left the country was tested for the virus in late April and rumors of other cases in the city’s high schools swirled as the outbreak became national news, but none of those suspected cases were confirmed.Health officials now say that the flu is the same or even less severe than traditional influenza and much of the initial fear was caused because it was a new, unknown virus.”At the beginning they didn’t know, it was very uncertain how severe it really was,” said O’Connor. “But through the course of this last month, they have found that it is no more severe than a normal flu, actually less. Can that change? Yes, maybe if it mutates again.”Still, cases continue to surface, as more than 190 people have contracted the virus and Boston’s largest school, Boston Latin, is among six closed in eastern Massachusetts this week because of multiple Swine Flu diagnoses.State education commissioner Mitchell D. Chester said Wednesday he will consider waiving the 180-day school year requirement for schools forced to close for outbreaks and help if they need to reschedule state achievement tests.”Our priority right now has to be to ensure the safety and health of our students, faculty and administrators,” Chester said. “Testing can be rescheduled and it is too late in the year to look at adding days to the calendar to meet the 180-day re