SDOC fighting the Flu

As of the week ending Jan. 13, 154 people in Oconee County have been diagnosed with the flu, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. This is the fifth week in which the flu has been listed at widespread activity across the state. The School District of Oconee County (SDOC) has not been immune from the flu, says Assistant Superintendent of Operations Steve Hanvey. “Its been a tough time. Its been tough for our students and our staff as well. We’ve had an uptick in the number of absences of students and then obviously we’ve had to use more subs over the past few weeks than we normally do. We meet with our facilities specialists and shared with our custodian staff. We want them to be very diligent in cleaning door handles, water fountains, common areas and that kind of stuff. So, we are doing all we can to minimize it and I encourage parents, if the child has the symptoms, I know it is important that they come to school, but we don’t want them to come to school sick. We want them to stay home until they get well. If they bring it into the school with them it’s more than likely going to affect a number of people, so we encourage them if they are sick to keep them at home and get them well and then send them back to us. But we are trying to take all the precautions we can as far as the cleaning and that to make sure that the schools are as safe as possible for not spreading the flu. And we have had a number of strep cases as well.” The SDOC encourages parents to help keep schools healthy by only letting their sick child return to school if they are fever-free, without medication, and vomit-free for 24 hours.