The shut down of classes at the Marshalltown School district by the H-one-N-one virus will last only three days. District officials had originally said they would cancel classes for this entire week, but Marshalltown Superintendent, Marvin Wade, says the Center for Disease Control changed its recommendations on the issue.
Wade says, “It was not as serious, I guess, as they thought it would be so that schools that, schools should not close if there’s identified cases and that schools that had closed could reopen.” Wade says they consulted with Marshalltown health officials, and decided to resume classes.
“Tomorrow all schools in Marshalltown Community School District, the Marshalltown Area Catholic Schools, and the Marshalltown Christian School, all will reopen and resume activities tomorrow,” Wade says. Since Marshall County has reported the highest number of probable cases, Wade reminds parents to not take the flu lightly.
Wade says: “We still want to treat this seriously. That’s a concern we have, from the public health standpoint, and from the school district standpoint, that, regardless of what C.D.C., the Iowa Department of Public Health or I say about it, it doesn’t impact how miserable that person is who has the flu.”
Wade stressed people should still take care of themselves to avoid getting the flu, take the precautions of washing hands and covering coughs. The district has not decided yet how to make up the three days missed because of the outbreak.
Marshalltown was the only district in the state to close over the virus. As for the other schools in Marshall County, the East Marshall , G-M-G and West Marshall school districts have been taking precautions, but so far no H-one-N-one cases have been reported by them. The Marshalltown Medical and Surgical Center is still restricting entrance to their facilities, with a limit of one visitor per patient.