Student absences at Hinsdale Central High School have dropped since last week despite recent news that a student there has been confirmed as having the H1N1 flu.

Principal Tom Paulsen said Thursday, Oct. 22, student absences Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, were 4 percent and 3 percent respectively, after running at about 10 percent of the school’s 2,770 enrollment last week.

Paulsen said about 1 percent of the absences Tuesday and Wednesday reported having flu-like symptoms.

“It actually has been a significant drop in absences from last week to this week,” Paulsen said.
Absence rates were unavailable for Thursday.

On Wednesday, the DuPage County Health Department and Hinsdale Township High School District 86 issued statements that an unidentified student at Hinsdale Central had been confirmed with H1N1, also known as swine flu.

“We know it is present in our community and are taking precautions,” Paulsen said. “The student body has handled it well. They are a very bright, very aware group.”

Absences among teachers and staff “have been slightly elevated over normal rates, but not to the point of disrupting instruction,” Paulsen said.

Although no confirmed cases of H1N1 have been reported among the student population at Hinsdale South High School in Darien, Principal Brian Waterman said, “clearly the H1N1 virus is present in our school population.”

“Parents report that some doctors are diagnosing patients as having the H1N1 virus based solely on the symptoms which are present,” Waterman said.

H1N1 cases are only confirmed if reported to the county health department by a health facility — generally a hospital — Paulsen said.

Waterman said student absences at Hinsdale South have averaged about 4 percent during the last 10 days, with about half of those absences reporting flu-like symptoms.

“If any of these numbers substantially increase we will notify our school community immediately,” Waterman said.