Will Your Child Be Safe At School If A Pandemic Strikes?
September 25, 2012 by Kellye Copas These days, everyone from
your neighbor to your employer and, hopefully, you may be
developing preparedness plans in the event of bioterrorist
attacks or flu pandemics. Unfortunately, your child’s school is
likely to be very unprepared. Despite warnings from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention about the dire consequences
that faced the Nation in 2009 during the H1N1 influenza
pandemic-that-wasn’t resulted in 18,000 deaths worldwide, many
U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks,
outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics,
according to a study by researchers at Saint Louis University’s
Institute for Biosecurity. The study, led by Terri Rebmann,
Ph.D., surveyed about 2,000 nurses working in elementary, middle
and high schools across 26 States. Findings revealed that only
48 percent of schools address pandemic preparedness and only 40
percent of schools have updated their plans since t