Guidance for Child Care Facilities
Child care facilities should increase instruction on respiratory hygiene and monitor children for acute respiratory illness.
Staff and children (as developmentally appropriate) should all be taught and asked to follow these steps that prevent the transmission of infections such as influenza:
- Cover your coughs and sneezes into a tissue or the inside of your elbow, not your bare hands.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.
- Wash hands frequently, especially after coughing or sneezing.
- Stay home if you’re sick, especially with a fever.
Children and caregivers with flu-like illness should remain at home and away from others until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (100° F [37.8° C] or greater when measured orally), or signs of a fever, without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Definitions of Respiratory Illness:
- Acute respiratory illness is defined as a recent onset of at least two of the following:
- Runny nose or nasal congestion
Sore throat
Cough
Fever or feverishness
- Influenza-like illness is a fever greater than 100 degrees F, accompanied by cough or sore throat
- The current situation does not warrant child care center closures. However, if H1N1 flu continues to spread and Missouri children become ill, it
may become necessary for health officials to close child care facilities temporarily.
Child care facilities can call their local health department for the most up-to-date information or keep visiting
www.dhss.mo.gov.
Latest recommendations:
At this time, CDC recommends the primary means to reduce spread of influenza in schools focus on early identification of ill students and staff,
staying home when ill, and good cough and hand hygiene etiquette. Decisions about school closure should be at the discretion of local authorities
based on local considerations, including public concern and the impact of school absenteeism and staffing shortages.
- School closure is not advised for a suspected or confirmed case of novel influenza A (H1N1) and, in general, is not advised unless
there is a magnitude of faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school’s ability to function.
- Schools that were closed based on previous interim CDC guidance related to this outbreak may reopen.
- Students, faculty or staff with influenza-like illness (fever with a cough or sore throat) should stay home and not attend school or
go into the community except to seek medical care for three to five days even if symptoms resolve sooner.
- Students, faculty and staff who appear to have an influenza-like illness at arrival or become ill during the school day should be
isolated promptly in a room separate from other students and sent home.
- Parents and guardians should monitor their school-aged children, and faculty and staff should self-monitor every morning for symptoms
of influenza-like illness.
- Ill students should not attend alternative child care or congregate in settings other than school.
- School administrators should communicate regularly with local public health officials to obtain guidance about reporting of
influenza-like illnesses in the school.
- Schools can help serve as a focus for educational activities aimed at promoting ways to reduce the spread of influenza, including hand
hygiene and cough etiquette.
Students, faculty and staff should stringently follow sanitary measures to reduce the spread of influenza, including covering their nose
and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing (or coughing or sneezing into their sleeve if a tissue isn’t available), frequently
washing hands with soap and water, or using hand sanitizer if hand washing with soap and water is not possible.
Guidance (CDC) http://flu.gov/professional/school/childguidance.html
Technical report (CDC)
http://flu.gov/professional/school/childtechreport.html
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