Back to normal at St. Charles East

ST. CHARLES — Things looked pretty normal around East High School Monday.

Buses lined the circle entrance to the school, ready to take home a good number of the 2,200 students at the school. Inside, the hallways were bustling with activity.

It was stark contrast to last week, when the school was closed.

St. Charles officials decided to close East High starting last Wednesday after 972 students called in sick, leaving half-empty classes and fueling worries the high school might be suffering from a large outbreak of swine flu.

But only 136 students called in sick Monday, less than the approximately 10 percent that normally call in during cold and flu season, said Jim Blaney, director of school and community relations for the St. Charles School District.

Although the school was closed to students Wednesday through Friday, staff members were working. Teachers called each student, each day, to get detailed information about how they were feeling, if they were getting better, and what their symptoms were.

After gathering that information, the Kane County Health Department concluded that about 10 percent of the students reported what are considered symptoms of the flu. It still is unknown if any of the students actually had the swine flu, or H1N1, virus, because the Centers for Disease Control only tests and analyzes people who are hospitalized.

Health officials pointed out that the season flu has not really kicked in, and young people, unlike with seasonal flu, are in a high risk category for swine flu.

Blaney said parents "enjoyed" the daily contact from the school last week, from what they have told administrators. He said despite the fact it is unknown exactly how many had the flu last week, parents were following Health Department advice to keep kids home from school if they are sick.