Vernon school closed as swine flu cases in B.C. climb to 11

B.C. health officials have closed an elementary school in Vernon after a student was confirmed to have swine flu — one of five new confirmed cases in the province.

The Health Services Ministry decided to close Beairsto elementary school for the next week after a student tested positive for the virus. The student, who recently returned from a vacation in Mexico, is experiencing a mild case and is at home recovering well, officials said.

The French immersion elementary school has more than 500 pupils from Grades 1 to 7, according to its website.

The case was one of five new instances of swine flu confirmed in B.C. on Thursday, bringing the number of cases in the province to 11.

Of all the infections, two are in children — one under age five and the other between 10 and 15 — while the rest are in adults between 20 and 45, officials from the B.C. Centre for Disease Control said. All of the cases have been mild and the patients have either recovered or are recovering.

B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall said he's concerned by what he calls rising "parent panic" over swine flu, adding the decision to close the school for a week is "out of an abundance of caution and precaution."

"At this point, the cases in British Columbia are pretty similar to a seasonal influenza of moderate severity, so we are not seeing anything outrageous or really bad or even anything that looks like what we are seeing in Mexico," Kendall said Thursday.

Parents and school officials should think about swine flu being an extension of an influenza season and take the normal precautions to protect children, he said.

So far, only one case of human-to-human secondary transmission has been confirmed in B.C. All the other cases involved people who recently travelled to Mexico or California, said Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an epidemiologist with the disease control centre.

"One of the 11 has been hospitalized but that was overnight for observation and was discharged and is recovering well," Skowronski said.

'If you do need to see a physician, please call ahead so that your physician's office or hospital can take appropriate infection control precautions.' — Dr. Danuta Skowronski, B.C. Centre for Disease Control

Health officials are expecting more cases of swine flu as more samples are being tested, she said.

"So far we don't have evidence of a high-rate infection, but we are fully anticipating that there will be more cases including secondary infections," Skowronski said.

B.C.'s confirmed cases now include:

• Eight cases in the Lower Mainland.
• One on southern Vancouver Island.
• One in the southern Interior.
• One in northern B.C.

The new cases in B.C. bring the total in Canada to 34, after several more cases were confirmed in Nova Scotia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec on Thursday.

Skowronski advises the public not to panic even though the number of confirmed cases in the province has almost doubled within a day.

"This so far outside of Mexico is still predominantly a mild illness especially in the young cases that have been reported. However, we don't want to be complacent about that when we say mild illness we still have to remember this is an influenza virus," she said.

She reminded the public to be diligent about hand-washing and covering mouths when they cough.

"The slogan is, If you have fever and cough, take the week off. Stay home, isolate yourself to protect others," Skowronski said.

"If you do need to see a physician, please call ahead so that your physician's office or hospital can take appropriate infection control precautions."