By Roslyn Ryan
Editor

After peaking during the third week of October, suspected cases of the Swine Flu have been declining among Powhatan County school children, school officials reported last week.

Head school nurse Harriet Jamerson confirmed that the wave of illnesses likely caused by H1N1, or Swine Flu, was unlike anything she had seen during her 13 years working for Powhatan Schools.

So far this year the schools have reported 754 cases of Swine Flu. Jamerson explained that in most cases the students were tested only for the regular flu and not for H1N1, but when tests were negative for the former it was likely that H1N1 was the culprit. Even so, Jamerson declined to use the term Swine Flu, referring to the issues she and her staff were treating as “flu-like symptoms.”

While the decline in flu cases has given school health workers a bit of breathing room, Jamerson said they also know it does not mean an end to the issue.

They were recently warned by Chesterfield health officials that the dip in suspected H1N1 cases may only be the end of the first wave. They are also facing the beginning of the regular flu season, said Jamerson, which will bring its own set of concerns.

Right now, said Jamerson, “we are cautiously optimistic” that the school system has seen the worst of it.