The Perry Community School District’s three registered nurses — Jenny Lansing at Perry High School, Erin Finn at Perry Middle School and Melissa Hix at Perry Elementary School — said Wednesday the school district is seeing an increase in illness in the community and in the schools.
The school nurses said predictions from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and pediatricians indicate the rate of incident will continue to rise, and they wished to issue the following reminder parents and guardians about when to keep students home from school.
Fever. If your child has a temperature of 100.0 or above, then the child should not be in school and should not return until the child has been free of fever for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication.
Vomiting and diarrhea. If your child has vomited or has more than five loose stools in one hour, then the child needs to stay home for at least 24 hours from the last time the child vomited or had diarrhea AND until the child has have kept down a regular meal before returning to school.
Influenza. Signs and symptoms include fever, chills, cough, sore throat, muscle aches and headache. If you are tested, ask your doctor for a note with a date to return to school. But do not return for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medication.
COVID-19. Getting tested is the only way to know whether you have COVID-19. If you test positive, then you must remain out of school for five days after the day of the test.
Talk to the school nurses for further instructions.
Lansing, Finn and Hix ask parents and guardians to err on the side of caution now. If your child is not feeling well, please do not send the child to school and tell the child to see how they feel once at school. The nurses have students in their offices at 8 a.m. when the children could have stayed home.
