16-year-old becomes fifth to die from swine flu in Dallas County 10:43 AM CT
By SARAH ACOSTA / The Dallas Morning News http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/093009dnmetflu.1c99ed5c8.html Health officials have confirmed that a fifth person, a 16-year-old, has died from the swine flu in Dallas County. WFAA-TV reported that the teen was a student at Berkner High School in Richardson. Tim Clark, a Richardson school district spokesman, would only confirm that a special education student, who had underlying medical conditions, died over the weekend. He said the student's last day at school was Sept. 18 and that the student appeared healthy that day. The death comes as Dallas-Fort Worth continues to deal with the spread of the flu. Over the weekend, 14-year-old Chloe Lindsey, a student at Leonard Middle School in Fort Worth, died from complications of influenza, her family said. Tarrant County health officials confirmed today that a child died from the swine flu on Sunday. Earlier this month, Dallas County officials also announced the death of 11-year-old Cynthia Garcia of Garland. The Price Elementary School student had no underlying medical conditions. A Collin County middle school reopened today after closing Monday because of heavy absenteesim. Nearly a third of Sloan Creek Middle School students missed school on Friday, according to the Lovejoy school district. About 30 miles southwest, the Lewisville school district reported an increased number of absences at its five high schools on Monday. Hebron High reported more than 300 absences, about five times more than normal, and other high schools also reported higher than normal numbers, school officials said. "I do believe our absences are up because it is flu season," said Brant Buck, assistant superintendent for student services. "We've had students out for flu-like symptoms." Buck said LISD has not established a set number of absences needed in order for a campus or for the district to shut down. But if the number of attendees drop below 80 percent, the district would discuss whether a campus or the district would need to close. "I don't know why there have been more absences in the high schools recently, but last week we saw more absences in the middle schools," Buck said. According to Buck, LISD is working closely with the Denton County health officials and taking precautions and to keep schools clean. "We normally don't follow the daily attendance pattern as closely, but with the increase of attendance dropping we are keeping a close eye on it," Buck said. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
