If there is "swine" flu in your area, do you think your place of worship should cancel classes for kids over the weekend?

No, there is no swine flu in our area.

@fireside – I asked IF there is H1N1 in your area…

Of course not, their faith will protect them * coff coff *

I would say that it depends on if schools are closing due to the threat as well.

Well, we just had one high school closed, so I suspect that may become an issue here before long, although so far we have had only one confirmed and one possible case. Knowing our church, they probably would shut down Sunday school if there are a number of cases in our town.

Swine flu or not, churchs should close their schools

It depends on what is known about the contacts people who are infected had before their diagnosis and isolation. There are ongoing discussions about the cases in Germany. If there were several contacts, canceling mass gatherings is a good idea.

From Bloomberg (60 minutes ago)

A German man infected with swine flu has possibly infected a nurse and another patient, a hospital in the Bavarian city of Straubing said. Both the patient and the nurse are being treated and are “doing well,” Caroline Kappes, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said in a telephone interview today. Test results confirming or denying the presence of swine flu will be available later today, she said.

The hospital admitted one of Germany’s three confirmed cases of swine flu last week, a 37-year-old man identified as Frank M. The man had recently returned from a trip to Mexico and was being treated for heart disease in the hospital’s intensive care unit when doctors diagnosed him with swine flu. The patient with the suspected flu infection shared an intensive care ward with Frank M., where the nurse was also working, Kappes said.

Once Frank M. was diagnosed with the disease, both he and the patient were treated with Tamiflu, Kappes said. Frank M. was transferred to a university clinic in Regensburg in order to treat his heart condition, Kappes said. He is now fever-free, Andreas Zapf, president of the State Health Office of Bavaria, was cited by the Bild newspaper as saying.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aDSUizqwxnXI&refer=germany

The virus seems to spread easily but it’s not yet very deadly. Awareness and being alert is good. No need to panic.

It’s not the fatality that matters – it’s the situation where 25% to 50% of the population is staying home sick because they can’t get out of bed, and what that does to the functioning of society.

If it makes people feel better to close Sunday schools out of fear, let them do it. They’ll just contract it at the grocery store instead.

not all place of worshop schools are bad. I would like to think ours teaches a lot of good things – to be free thinkers, how to treat one another, respect other’s differences etc… but we are very liberal.

I have to teach the kindergarteners and I am not that excited to be around those cute and very sweet germ factories. Yes – I have asked our RE director her opinions – just wondering yours…

We’ve had 1 case in my city, and one elsewhere in my state, so it seems a little silly to close anything with quite isolated cases. If schools started closing here then yes, but that hasn’t happpened yet.

@DandyDear711 I am wondering the same thing. I have a small child.

First off, I’m thinking they should close down schools in the county next to mine (Milwaukee), NOW. There are unconfirmed cases (which I believe will be confirmed by week’s end) and they shut down 7 school’s because of this.

We have a dance recital coming up and just like you, I’m not looking forward to being sardined into a dance rehearsals with a couple hundred germ carriers.

Personally, I can stave off the flu. But, the little ones are most susceptible to it here in the US so far.

Now, they’re looking into the “point of origin” of this influenza strain as it is showing signs of a second bout…but this is “unconfirmed” as of now.

Just putting this out there, to say, “no” you are not the only one concerned about the spread.

No change for activities as our “church” yet. I guess the cases here are not confirmed either but probably will be. Since we live in the capital district of NY and in the same state as NYC – it won’t be long until it is here.

I forget if I mentioned above but I am especially worried about the elderly…

@DandyDear711 I’m worried about the youth, as so far they are the worst afflicted. I’m always concerened about the elderly and the frail during cold/flu/pneumonia seasons where I live.

It was just announced that Cinco de Mayo fest is canceled here.

There is swine flu in my area and the first case broke out at St. Mels School. They said the church meetings would not be canceled just because of the break out at the school.

Are you just using a church as an example? There are a lot more places where you come in contact with people that don’t get shut down. Restaurants (where people handle your food, I hope you trust them), schools, grocery stores, bus stops and train stations. I don’t see why any place would need to be shut down unless there was a confirmed case in that specific place as with St Mel School which they closed for, I believe two or three days.

On a personal note: I think people are overreacting.

I was thinking church mostly because all the kids go to different schools then gather together in close proximity on Sunday to exchange germs and then go back to school on Monday to spread what they caught from the kids from the other schools.

It isn’t reasonable to shut down everything and I don’t think I am panicking or even particularly fearful, BTW. Just thinking about how to slow down the spreading of it…

Perhaps I asked the question a week to early…

yes

i don’t think it matters what kind of school it is. if other schools are closing down because of it, i don’t see why they shouldn’t also. if it’s for safety reasons, it’s for safety reasons, regardless of what the kids are learning about.