Swine Flu in Uijeongbu
Back at the start of August our academy held a teachers' meeting - an event that usually only takes place two or three times as year - to discuss affairs prior to the start of the new academic year. One of the topics brought up during the meeting was H1N1 - 신종 인플루엔자 in Korean - and we were notified that eight students at the elementary school across the street from our academy had been diagnosed with the virus. Following this announcement we installed an alcohol-based hand cleanser in the lobby that each student was required to use before being allowed into the main part of the academy. The academy director's major concern at the time was that having a student catch H1N1 might lead to the other students' parents pulling their children out of our academy over concerns for their health -- and there was no guarantee they'd come back following a week-long quarantine.
Shingok Elementary School
Fast forward to the start of last week and a mother called our academy to say that her daughter would be staying home from classes after testing positive for H1N1 at a local hospital. This girl is one of the newer students at our academy - and not one that I teach - so while I recognized her name I don't have any idea who she is within the general student body. Our academy director called the local board of education to ask if we needed to close for a week but was told he would need to wait a day for them to deliberate the situation. Cue a day in limbo as everyone wondered whether we'd need to come in to work the following day or if we'd have a four-day break for the remainder of the week, to be made up at some point in the future.
The verdict was that we were clear to remain open, much to everyone's relief. Preventative measures have been stepped up even more since that incident, as now the vice director checks each student's temperature with an ear thermometer in addition to making sure everyone washes their hands with the alcohol disinfectant. Teachers seem to be exempt from both safeguards, but I still make it a point to use the disinfectant in front of students from time to time so that they have a role model to observe. Seeing a teacher participating might help persuade them better than simply telling them what to do without the example. Or that's the theory, at least.