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Flu Battles at Camp Spark Fears for School Year

Purell abounds; symptomatic kids sent home

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 27, 2009 1:31 PM CDT

(Newser) – With a swine flu resurgence expected in the fall—before an H1N1 vaccine is available—schools are getting a head start on fighting the disease, the Los Angeles Times reports. The scene at summer camps may provide a preview: Hundreds of youngsters in Southern California alone have been sent home to recover from symptoms, and kids are arriving armed with Tamiflu as administrators try to make schools as flu-proof as possible.

Nurses are checking kids’ temperatures before they get on camp-bound buses, visiting days are being canceled, and high-fives have been banned. “We're all getting habitual with our Purell,” says a camp director. University of California campuses are following camps’ lead, gathering paper masks, hand sanitizer, food, and water. “If we prepare for the worst, then we're going to get a better outcome,” says a UC official.

Samang, right, of Thailand, helps children from the Smithsonian Summer Camp to use shadow puppets at the 41st annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington June 27, 2007.
Samang, right, of Thailand, helps children from the Smithsonian Summer Camp to use shadow puppets at the 41st annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington June 27, 2007.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Kids play at a park near their home in Loveland, Colo., on Wednesday, July 15. 2009. They were at a summer camp in Greeley, Colo., that was closed because of the swine flu.
Kids play at a park near their home in Loveland, Colo., on Wednesday, July 15. 2009. They were at a summer camp in Greeley, Colo., that was closed because of the swine flu.   (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
A camper pours ice water on his head. Camps are bracing for swine flu as some campers are required to go home to recover from symptoms.
A camper pours ice water on his head. Camps are bracing for swine flu as some campers are required to go home to recover from symptoms.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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