Shutting Schools Maybe a Good Idea After all Says WHO

While in many cities of India schools were being shut in order to stop the spread of the H1N1 Swine Flu virus, this was often criticized as being a ‘panic reaction’ or ‘needless overreaction’ or even labeled ‘unnecessary’.  In fact even the health ministry indicated that this shutting of entire schools where children tested positive was not necessary; that merely discontinuing individual classes where children tested positive was enough.

Now however the WHO has come around to the view that shutting schools at the start of a pandemic can actually be helpful. This opinion has been formed by the health organization based largely on the experiences of countries such as India.

“The main benefit of proactive school closure comes from slowing down the spread of an outbreak within a given area and thus flattening the peak of infections. School closure can also buy some time as countries intensify preparedness measures or build up supplies of vaccines and antiviral drugs,” the WHO was quoted as having said in a statement.

According to the WHO it is the timing of school closures that is of critical importance, and has said that school closures are of use at the start of the pandemic; when the virus is more widespread, the use of school closure is limited.

Meanwhile according to the latest figures as reported by the Economic Times, the Swine Flu death toll in India has risen to 188 victims in all. Maharashtra is still the state with the highest number of fatalities resulting from this virus, with 82 deaths. Karnataka has the second highest number dead due to the virus, 62.

The total number of people affected with the H1N1 swine flu virus country wide has now gone up to 6,139 and new cases keep getting reported from states that were hitherto not on the swine flu radar.

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