Peoria Times
26 YOUTH
March 19, 2020
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Department of Health tips aimed at schools, childcare providers BY ERIC NEWMAN
Peoria Times Staff Writer
The Arizona Department of Health Services hosted a public webinar Wednesday, March 11, informing schools and childcare providers around the state of the latest updates on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The presentation gave tips to teachers, school staff, childcare workers and others on how they can effectively mitigate the spread in their communities. Among the topics covered were the effects of COVID-19 in children. According to the presentation, common symptoms include fever, runny nose and cough for children. Severe effects are less common than they are in an older demographic. “They seem to be fairly unlikely or uncommon for younger kids, which is good news,” said Susan Robinson, an epidemiologist. Even those not experiencing symptoms can spread the illness and precautions need to be taken, she said. Schools should take precautions to regularly clean frequently touched sur-
faces and do more to promote personal hygiene like proper hand-washing and social distancing from those who show illness symptoms. Robinson also said school and district administrators should think about identifying critical job functions and planning for alternative coverage of those jobs should it be necessary, cross-training employees for emergencies and ensuring sick leave policies are flexible due to the current pandemic. She said the prevention of other treatable viruses, such as the flu, should be taken care of, as well. While there is still no known cure for COVID-19,
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minimizing those hurt by the flu or other respiratory issues weakening the immune system could help slow the spread of COVID-19, though it would not stop it completely. “The more steps we can take to avoid illnesses like the flu, the better,” Robinson said. Ultimately, the presentation said it will be up to individual schools and districts to make their own choices in how
they go about preventing the spread of disease. Questions were asked of the speakers about closing schools or stopping group activities, but Robinson said there is no wide-sweeping answer, and each area will have to consult local health agencies to figure out their own best practices moving forward. A few days later, Gov. Doug Ducey announced all schools in the state would close until March. 27.
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