School officials stay updated about flu

All Ramona schools are open and there are no reports of swine flu among students or staff, Ramona Unified School District Supt. Robert Graeff said.

With 24 confirmed cases of the influenza in San Diego County, three schools were closed—San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts in Paradise hills, Kearny High School in Linda Vista and Mission Hills High School in San Marcos—as was the children’s center at San Diego State University, officials reported this week.

All school district superintendents in the county have received information from the Department of Public Health and are being updated daily, Graeff said Friday. If a student in a Ramona school is confirmed to have the illness, schools and the public will be notified and the district will take appropriate steps, he added.

The school district Web site at www.ramona.k12.ca.us/ramonausd has information the illness. Washing hands frequently and covering nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and then throwing the tissue in the trash are among ways to protect oneself from getting the swine flu, also referred to as R1N1 influenza A.

Of the reported 403 cases in the United States as of Tuesday, one toddler who was visiting from Mexico died in Texas last week. A reported 1,490 cases have been reported worldwide.

Health officials call this a mild strain of the virus, but say they do not know how it will evolve. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web site at www.cdc.gov/ provides updated information about the flu.